ニュー・アライジング・オンライン New Arising Online
by Sayuki Minato
Summary: Being a fan of Sword Art Online since being a kid, a new graduated doctor of the Sonoda family has finally got her dream fulfilled by the new release of New Arising Online, a VRMMORPG game in 2030. Umi and her best friend, Eli, begin their new adventures in the world of their dreams. Will they turn out to be the main characters of another book of SAO?
1. Chapter 1

The century of 21st,

The game industry had never been blooming like this before. 70% of the world's population experienced at least one kind of video or computer games in their lives. And half of it were the people who played them every day. After the birth of the first version of virtual reality (VR) device back in 2016, game developers had found their new path to create more realistic games. Inspired by the Japanese Light Novel series **Sword Art Online** (SAO) published in 2012, which later on got itself two successful 2 series of anime, some game companies in Japan had their first attempt to recreate the SAO world in the late twenties. Those actions laid the foundation for VR games later on.

Finally, on 16th June 2030, **SEED Corp.** announced the release date of their biggest and most promising project among the whole game industry.

 **New Arising Online**. For short, **NAO**.

SEED Corp. was found on 2068 by Professor Kimura Shio, who was well-known in both IT and neurology. He was the pioneer in the development of virtual sensual reality technology, which allowed the closest game to SAO to be released. Currently, players could experience the game just like they were living in a second world. Beginning with the first version of VR device, which allowed only the vision to be used, now all of the five senses of a human being were operated and led the player to the brand new world. After one month of closed beta for 500 lucky beta testers to be the first ones who experienced the game, the open beta for the game would be released on 26th June 2070. Unfortunately, Japan was the only place which game chips and VR devices were sold. And the players had to be within Japanese territory to be connected to the main server. Therefore, Japanese residents were going to watch the rest of the world getting jealous of them.

To get prepare for the open beta, the game chips and VR devices were delivered to every electronic and game stores around the countries, with the limited number of 5000 since SEED Corp. only operated one server during the open beta. They wanted to control the number of participants to avoid server crash. If the game proved to be successful, they would open more servers in the future. Because of that reasons, the game and device were even rarer than diamond. One day before the officially day of selling, thousands of people got in lines for miles, waiting in front of the stores. And on that day, 10000 pack of chip and device were sold after 5 minutes.

Actually, the accurate number of packs was 9500, because the 500 beta testers received their free pack as a payment of their cooperation during the closed beta. And among of the testers, unexpectedly the promising legacy of a doctor family, Sonoda Umi, new graduated doctor student, decided to award herself for graduating her study at the age of 22. She was invited to be one of the beta testers by a friend of hers, who were one of the staff in SEED Corp. Her family was against her playing games but since she moved away to live on her own when she went to university, she didn't care less about how her family thought about her hobby. The short months of testing New Arising, she had become addicted to the new world and she couldn't be more eager to spend a few years later to enjoy her new life.

* * *

 **26th June 2030, 8 A.M.**

Umi made sure to take a day off today. She wanted to be the first one to be in the world of New Arising, to feel the fresh air and the green landscape of an ancient land. Of course her parents, which were the director of her current hospital, weren't so happy about their daughter asking for a day off after a week starting to work in the hospital. But as stubborn as she was, Umi would get what she wanted. She woke up at seven, cleaning herself and finishing all the necessary chores. Having her breakfast while waiting for the G time of the release, her cell phone vibrated violently, moving toward to the edge of the table slowly. Bringing the egg sandwich up to her mouth with her right hand, she caught the phone with her left hand right after it fell off the table in the middle air, still keeping her eyes on the morning newspaper. Put the phone of her left ear, she said "Moshi Moshi" with a mouth full of food. And of course the caller couldn't be pleased by that.

"Sonoda. Please finish your food before talking. Lucky for you that it is me or you will lose your image already." A voice of an annoyed woman could be heard from the speaker.

"I know it is you so that's why I picked up. No one knows this number of mine besides you, Eli." Answering with a bored tone, Umi continuing her breakfast, ignoring a loud sigh from her friend.

"At least show some respect to your best friend. So are you going to NAO today?"

"What else did I ditch work for? Do you really need to ask that?"

"Figured. I just called to tell you that our reports during closed beta have become the beginner's guides. Just like in SAO. How cool is that!"

"OK lower your voice Eli. No matter how good the novel is, I still don't want us to get stuck in that game forever and can never resuscitate once your HP reaches 0."

"Don't be so pessimistic. It's just a novel. It's not going to be exactly the same. Not 100% no matter what. You're comparing the reality with a fiction."

"Yeah yeah. You will lose your job if you don't protect your company anyway." Umi replied with a teasy voice.

"Shush. Anyway, let's meet at the cherry tree in front of Sera village after you have logged in. Most of the new players will focus on their beginner quests so we can start off with farming levers outside the village."

"You're an evil and sly staff, Eli."

"Well I am a beta tester and a normal player, just like you, Umi-chan. I don't have any authorities to operate this game anyway. I'm playing fair and square."

"OK OK got it. See you in 10 minutes."

"Better not to be late, Sonoda-san."

Finish the call, Umi made sure to turn off both of her phones. She did not want any disturbances from her work or her social life. She wanted to at least enjoy playing game for the whole day. Looking up to the clock on the wall, she quickly finished off the last piece of her sandwich and folded the newspaper. Putting the dish into the dish washer, she drank the cup of coffee she made a while ago in one gulp and then place it into the machine also. Pressing a few button to make it work, Umi went around the house to check that she locked all the doors so no thieves could break in while she was on drive. After everything, she rushed to her room and unpacked the box that she received from Eli few days ago. It was the VR device, **NeuVice** , she got for free from being the beta tester. The device didn't change much from it first version, except that it was lighter and looked neater. It looked just like a pair of sunglasses, except there was a ring of carbon surrounding the back of the head when wearing to get the full signals from the neurons of the brain. Observing it for a while, Umi smiled to compliment the designer of the device. Comparing to the first version of **NerveGear** in SAO, it looked way better. Plug in the charger for the device, the young doctor input the chip of the game to the bridge of the glasses, which allowed her to connect to the server. She turned on the device for the final examination that it worked well. Everything seemed to be ready. She put the device over her head, with the black glasses covered her eyes; and then freely let her body landed on the soft comfy bed behind her.

The clock on the glasses showed "8:59". One minute to go. The girl was excited. A small grin on her lips told everything.

3.

2.

1.

9:00

"Link on!"

The command to log into the server was said softly, clearing Umi's mind completely. Her vision now was all white for a second before the logo of SEED Corp. popped up. Next, a window opened, asking for her ID and password. By thinking, she could input all the require information just like typing on a computer. After accepting her ID and password, the window disappeared. A new one showed up along with a message.

 _"There is a previous character that is was created in closed beta. Do you want to use this character?"_

Under the question was the name of her character, the one that she had been using during her time in closed beta.

 _"Umi (F)"_

Without hesitation, she accepted and then, the final message was delivered to her.

 _"Welcome back to New Arising"_

Then, her vision went black.

* * *

One blink. Two blinks. Three blinks.

The surroundings were slowly getting clearer. An old mud road in the front, a clear blue sky above, and a pair of hands worn in black fingerless gloves when she looked down. Moving her fingered a little bit to make sure that everything worked well, she gripped her hands, smiling to herself and cheered softly.

"Finally, I'm back."

Along with that, she could here many cheers from other players, who were just logged in like hers. Soon, the small village was crowded by thousands of players wearing in newbie uniforms. But they didn't stand there for long. Some players immediately went to the non-playable characters (NPCs) around the village to do the beginner's quests, while some others took time to look around their new world and all of the functions on the menu board, with a help of the beginner's guide in their storages. Of course, as a beta tester, Umi knew exactly what to do without the guide, since she helped to write that guide anyway. Remembering the promise with Eli, Umi quickly went to the Elder of the village to finish the first quest.

The Elder stood in the middle of the village, surrounding by many other players. It was pretty hard for Umi to get through but she managed somehow after five minutes going through the sea of bodies to greet the Elder. The Elder happily welcome her to their village and granted her a beginner's sword along with experience points (EXP) enough for her to gain one level, and 50 coins. After that, she quickly ran to the opposite direction of the rest of the players, heading to the big cherry tree outside of the village.

Only about 2 minutes later, she found a female character leaning on the trunk of the tree, without anyone else around the area. Everyone always thought that finishing beginner's quests would help them to leveling quicker than farming in the monster field. But thanks to that, the field was empty. Umi and Eli would have enough time to clear all of the monster in the field before they could restore and other players came. By that time, both of them would have gained at least 10 levels already. And with completing the beginner's quests, they would be at level 20 after an hour.

Thinking that, Umi picked up her speed and ran toward her friend, which took no time to notice her. The other female character straight up her back and waved at the newcomer.

"Oi! You're late, Umi-chan"

"Shut up, Elichi." Umi replied once she got closer to Eli. "You don't use your old character anymore huh, Eternal Feather-san?"

"Stop it! Don't remind me of that name please! It was a mistake that I thought about an anime character when I was creating that character, OK?" The person in front of Umi blushed a little. Seeing the blush on her cheeks, Umi silently complimented the realistic components of this game.

Eli cleaned her throat to calm herself and then took a good look at her friend. The character of Umi, Umi, was a young female about 1m60 tall, having a pair of blue crystal eyes and shoulder-length crimson hair. She was wearing the female newbie uniform with a leather armor in front of her chest, a white sleeveless shirt worn inside, red miniskirt, a pair of leather boots and wrist protections.

"And you used your old character from the closed beta. You don't want to change your appearance? 'Cause this character's face is way too similar to your real face. Not to mention you're using your real name."

"Isn't that good then? I'll enjoy this game more realistic. And besides, no one would think it was my real name since I wrote it in romanji." Umi shrugged her shoulders. "But look at you, cheater. You made your character one-head taller than me when you're only 3 centimeters taller in real life. And yet your hair is purple, you pervert."

"What?! How can I be a pervert when my hair is purple?"

"You said that by yourself. Only perverts love purple. And I know how much you're crazy over purple things."

"Er… I… Damn it! Stop it Umi!" That earned some soft giggles from Umi.

Just like Umi said, Eli had made herself a female character with long purple hair and dark blue eyes. Her face was more matured and sharper than Umi's face since Eli wanted to make herself look tough. And her clothes was similar to Umi's except that her skirt was black and her shirt was green.

"Anyway, enough of the chit chat. Let's do some farming before someone comes here."

"OK. Since we don't have enough skill points (SP) to upgrade the party ability yet. Let's do a separate leveling from here."

"Sounds good. Let's meet again here when we finish the whole area." Umi said eagerly while withdrawing her sword from the cover on her waist.

"I'll make sure to gain more EXP than you, Umi."

"We will see about that, Elichi."

Both of then exchanged a challenging grin and then went to different directions. Umi went to the south and she met a horde of slime. They were the most common monster in any MMORPG games, and also the easiest one to kill. Therefore, without mercy, Umi swung her sword to kill any slime on her way. The sword went through it each time, but the health point (HP) bar above each slime was getting shorter and shorter by each attack. Until it reached 0, the slime exploded. And the remaining pieces of the slimes disappear a second later, only leaving behind one or two coins as a reward of killing them. Umi kept attacking the slimes, gaining more and more EXP through time. When she wanted to one-hit-one-kill a slime, she got into the pose, her sword shined a little and automatically her body moved on its own, making a neat strike at the slime and quickly broke it into pieces. It was how to use a skill move. Not like a normal computer game where you press buttons to activate skills, you had to remember the pose or initial movements of each skill in order to use them in time. It was harder but helped the player to experience more. That was how Umi felt. When she got hit, her HP bar went down a little but she felt a little tingling since the pain transaction in this game was only 5%, which meant she only felt 5% of the actual pain she would receive in real time during the same accident in the game. It helped to have a realistic but also relaxing experience during the game.

* * *

An hour later, Umi finally cleared the whole area. Her level now was 11 and she was checking her bag for the items and money she received from the slimes and a pack of rabbits nearby. At the same time, the purple hair girl ran toward her. It seemed that the girl also just finished cleaning her side.

"Hey Umi! Still good?"

"Yeah. I got about 9 levels. This area only has weak monsters so I didn't get many EXP though." Umi replied while checking. With a few more swipe on the menu screen in front of her, she closed it and then turned to look at her friend. "So how about y…. Ahhhh! What the heck happened to you, Elichi?! You look like a mess!"

"Ahahaha….." Eli scratched her head with a weak laugh. Her armor was partly torn along with her skirt. And Umi could clearly see her HP bar was red and almost empty. "I got bored after killing all the small monster, and accidentally encountered a boss so I tried to kill it."

"Even though this is only a game but still, you're so reckless!" Umi was obviously not pleased to see her friend's condition. "So did you kill it?"

"Yeah I did. That's why I'm level 17 now." Eli replied.

"By yourself?"

"Yep. By myself." The girl raised her chin up proudly.

Umi sighed heavily. She opened her menu screen again, skipping to her bag and press on the potions. Immediately, a small red bottle appear in her hand. She tossed it to Eli, who caught it thankfully.

"Drink up before a slime swallows you from nowhere."

"Hehe. Thanks Umi." Eli answered with a smile and then drank the liquid from the bottle. Soon later, her HP bar was refilled. "The boss was actually a big slime so it wasn't that hard to kill though. I was running out of potion and with only a novice sword, it was a little bit hard. The reward wasn't that good anyway. Only 100 coins and a large gem to sell later. But the EXP is worth it, even though I almost had to walk from the village back to you with some loss in EXP."

Umi furrowed her eyebrows at the final sentence. Her face became darker and the atmosphere tense up. Noticing the sudden silence from Umi, whom usually would retort her silly actions or jokes immediately, the smile on the purple hair girl's face faded away. She quickly turned to her friend. The girl now was having her head low, letting her bang cover half of her face.

"Oi… Umi… Umi-chan… What's wrong?"

"… Eli, do you remember what I told you this morning?" Without making eye contact with her friend, Umi replied with a low voice.

"We talked about many things this morning. Which one are you talking about?" Eli raised her voice a little bit. But it seemed that Umi didn't want to answer her question. Eli had to search in her memory for a while. Umi was acting strangely, and somehow it scared her a little. Could it be because that she defeated the boss without telling her? They used to make a party and hunt bosses together during the closed beta. But Umi was a nice girl with a big heart, she couldn't be that narrow-minded. Then what was it that Umi wanted her to remember. This morning? We were talking about the game, and what we would do when we logged in, and then about her favourite light novel…

Her favorite novel… SAO?

"SAO?... You mean that?" Eli raised a question, receiving a nod from Umi. "What about it? Don't tell me you still have that thought? I told you already that SAO is just a novel. This game may borrow the idea of it but doesn't mean NAO IS SAO!"

This time, Umi rose her head to look at Eli. Straightforward and serious. "Why don't you check it yourself?"

A cold question sent Eli chill all over her body. Hastily, she ran her hand in the air to open the menu and quickly find the option to log out.

"I will prove you, Umi."

The setting list opened up.

"That there is no way…"

Sounds, lights, brightness, account…

"… It would happen…"

Eli trailed off at the end of her sentence. Her shock eyes gazed at the blank space on the screen. The blank that was supposed to be where the log out button was. In the closed beta, there was a log out button to shut down the device completely. It was the only way to turn off the game by themselves besides an interruption from the outsiders. The worst case that Umi mentioned actually happened. They were stuck in the game.

"You've got to be kidding me. This can't happen." Eli said in shock, holding her head, try to refuse the reality.

"It's not… While I'm waiting for you, I was checking the menu screen and everything for a bug or an error, and found out that there was no log out button at all. If this is a bug, I will be grateful. But…"

A moment of silence.

"Eli, look around you. Do you see anything strange?"

Following her friend's words, Eli slowly observed her surroundings. It was empty. There were only her and Umi, and some monsters just respawned. No one else was here.

"… Where is everyone?" Eli quietly said, enough for the girl next to her to hear.

"Exactly. It has been an hour and yet no one comes here to farm. The beginner's quests take less than half an hour to finish them all. Unless something holds them back after they finish the quests."

"But the final quest is in the capital of NAO, Ravenia. And it is a non-PK and safe zone. What can happen to them?"

"… You know about SAO better than me, Eli. I'm sure you know the answer already." Umi replied, giving Eli a sad look.

The purple hair girl went even more shocked than before. She placed a hand over her lips and stared down at the ground. It was the habit of herself when she was thinking about something. After a brief moment, the expression on Eli's face became more relaxing, but still serious because of the situation. She turned to look at Umi firmly. Freaking out was the least thing they should not do. No matter what, both of them were the beta testers. They had experiences that no one else had about this world. And on top of that, Eli was among the staff who created this world.

"Let's not jump into conclusion just yet. Maybe it's just a bug or something. We can check the village and the capital to see if others are having the same problem with us."

"I hope you're right." Giving a weak smile, hope was everything Umi could do.

* * *

After a long walk from the farming field, passing the starting village in Regalia, the open world in NAO, the girls noticed on the bulletin board of the village, there was a big news about a big event for newbies in Ravenia. That explained why no people came to the farming field after their beginner's quests. Without wasting more time, Umi and Eli headed to the capital, where from afar, they could hear the noise of the crowd from the arena in the middle of the capital.

Another 15 minutes passed, they mingled with the crowd as all people were waiting anxiously. Most of them had found out about the missing of the log-out button. The rest just followed the majority. From the news, the Game Master (GM) had an announcement for them. Therefore, they were hoping that it was about the solution for the current issue.

Standing in a corner of the arena, Umi and Eli looked at each other nervously as the big clock in the middle of the place rang, notifying it was 12.00 at noon. As promising, the GM appeared in the middle of the crowd, floating in the middle of the air with a black manteaux that covering his whole body. No one could see his face. But his voice was clear as the morning sun.

"Greetings the new civilians of Regalia. Welcome to New Arising Online. As the Game Master, I'm so grateful to see my world coming alive." His voice was deep and mysterious, as his appearance already gave that first expression. "Let's skip all the formalities as I know there are many of you have found out about an error in the system, which is no log-out button can be found in the menu board."

When the GM mentioned about the issue, the crowded went from being silent to angrily complaining about the error. The GM did not change his calm attitude.

"And here, I will confirm one thing. **That is not an error**."

A moment of silence. Shock. Confusion.

"There are some beta testers here can guarantee you that in the beta version, there was a log-out button. However, in this official version, the log-out button disappears on purpose. To make it short, you are all trapped in here until the game is cleared."

After that, the crowd busted in anger. They shouted, screamed for another explanation as they could not accept the fact that they trapped in a virtual world from the moment they stepped into it. Some of them cried for help. Some of them tried to mimic the action of taking off the NeuVice but it did not work, when their real bodies were still laying motionlessly on their beds.

Behind the angry crowd, Umi was shocked when she learned that her biggest fear had come true. No words escaped from her dry throat. She felt her hand soaked in sweats. And yet Eli just made it worse as she held her friend's hand, trying to calm themselves. Slowly, Umi turned to look at the girl besides her, who were obviously couldn't be less concern about the situation than herself.

"Eli… Do you know anything about this?"

"I'm sorry but… no. I'm in the same shoes with you now."

Then, several screens popped up around the GM, interrupting their conversation. With a louder voice, the GM continued giving his speech.

"You may now notice that there are several missing people after my earlier announcement. Those hasty people will receive nothing but death. These screens are taken from the local televisions and you can tell I am not joking around. If you try to disconnect the NeuVice, your brain will get burned from the electrical adapter inside the device resulting an instant death. Your families and probably the whole nation has been informed about this situation to prevent unfortunate deaths. But it seemed that there were some people didn't take my words seriously."

The crowd went silent in horror as they couldn't believe what was happening in front of their eyes. News about random deaths on their own beds with the presence of the NeuVice. Announcement of the government about the trapped 10,000 people in New Arising Online. Everything just added more into the reality that all of them had stuck in a game for a really long time. Continuing the nightmare, the GM was giving more information that he hadn't told yet.

"Also, be aware. Some of you may have read Sword Art Online, the novel about a visual game that published several years ago. My advice, recall everything you can remember from that novel because it will be your life preserver. This world is based on Aincrad after all. And of course, that would mean **if your HP go down to zero for any reasons, both your life here and in real life will end. No resuscitation.** "

Chills ran down Umi's spine. If this GM was following SAO then she knew what was going to happen next.

"Finally, to wrap everything up, this is my welcoming present for all of the remaining players. Please check your inventory now."

Like soldiers, all of the players immediately opened their menu to search for the aforementioned gift in their inventory. When Umi and Eli opened theirs, they found a new item, which was named 'The mirror of truth'. They both looked at each other, concern and worry shown clearly in their eyes. They knew what it was but they couldn't do anything to avoid it. They both touched the name of the item and a hand mirror appeared on their hand. Slowly, they brought the object closer to their faces until they could see their reflections. And just like others, their whole bodied shone brightly.

After a few moments, the light faded away. Umi slowly opened her eyes. She did not feel bad or sick. But she knew this was not a game anymore as she saw her face in the mirror. No more blue eyes and crimson hair. Only the face of Sonoda Umi with those amber orbs and long marine hair remained. Exactly the same thing happened in SAO where the players revealed their true identities in the game. In a blink of eyes, the mirror broke into data particles. Like ringing a bell, Umi quickly turned to her friend, who had become a beauty with blonde ponytail and clear blue crystal eyes, looking back at her in disbelief.

"Umi… You… Your face…"

"Yes I know, Eli… I can see your face also."

Eli quickly touched over her own body, checking for any abnormal. But only to find her own disappointment.

"So it is real then. Our real face and measurements can't be hidden. We're going to die in real life as the same time in here. We have become a new series of SAO. Why is this happening?!"

The blonde exclaimed in frustration while hiding her face into her hands. Even she was a staff, a person who took part in the creation of this world, she still couldn't accept the fact that she might die one day in this world without seeing her family again.

Family…

"Family… My sister… Oh my God! Umi!" Suddenly, Eli snapped out of her desperate moment as she remembered something important. She did not care how she startle her friend with her sudden call. She grabbed the blunette by her shoulders and said in terrify. "My sister! Arisa is also playing NAO!"

"Wait… What? Isn't she supposed to be at school right now?"

"She pretended to be sick and stayed at home with me. Our parents are off to work today until evening so we linked together."

"Then why didn't tell me about her? Or bring her along with us?"

"She told me she wanted to play with her best friend at school so she let me go off with you alone. Gosh! Umi, we need to find her quickly!"

"Ok calm down, Eli. Since we all have our real faces now, it won't be that hard to find he-…"

"But before everything starts…" To her horror, the GM interrupted her words with more and more terrors. "I find it less interesting if everything was exactly the same in SAO. Therefore, I have modified the whole 100 floors of Regalia a little bit. From floor 1 to 5, all of the monsters will be degraded to fit with the players' levels. However, the gates connecting the floors remain unchanged, which means you still needs to fight the boss if you want to get from here to the next floor. Furthermore, all of the players will be teleported randomly to these 5 floors. So…"

 _"What…"_

Before Umi could react…

"Good luck all."

A ring of a warp appeared around each player, including Umi and Eli. Screams and yells filled the air. No one could cancel the teleporting as they would be warped to a random place. Umi tried to run away but her feet couldn't move as she could be the paralyzed symbol showed next to her HP bar, same with Eli's. She looked at Eli desperately when she knew they would be separated. The blonde knew what she was thinking and how she felt. To answer those, she smiled gently, reassuring that they would be fine.

"Don't worry Umi. I will find you and Arisa. Then we will get out of this together."

As the time of teleporting was running out, Umi only managed to give Eli few words of comfort until both of them disappeared into air.

"Be safe, Eli."

The new chapter of their lives began.

* * *

 **Author's note:** Hey guys. This is my first fiction about muse even though I have been a Love Liver for years. Please read and review as I want to improve the story itself and give your more pleasure time while reading this fiction of mine. It's been 6 years since I have written any stories or fictions so my narration might be crappy at the moment. Please excuse me for that as I will try to improve it ASAP.

 **Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**30** **th** **August 2030, 13:00, 5** **th** **Floor, Eino Town**

In the middle of Eino town, the only civic place in the whole area of the 5th floor, standing a bulletin board which was surrounded by a small group of people. As two months ago, all remaining 10000 players had been teleported to different places within 5 beginning floors. And these people were just a small group in 1000 unlucky players who got transported to Floor 5. Even though the GM said that he had degraded all of the monsters among the first 5 floors, 5th floor was still the most difficult place to train for players as they did not have much safe zone to hide. Also the monsters here were still stronger than the others on lower floors. And also they had the least number of players among the floors.

Not to mention that they could not contact each other from different floors, even if they already added each other into their own friend list. The communication limitation could only lift when the gate in between two floors was opened; all of the players live in those two floors could finally communicate with each other, but not the other floors which they could not reach yet. Therefore, the only way to contact the people on floors that were not opened was through the bulletin board in every villages, towns, cities of each floor. On the right side of the board, there was always the **Hall of Fame** , showing 20 players with highest level at the moment. In the middle were news from the GM, events or location of the mini bosses appeared on the current floor, and also what was happening in the dungeon that led to the Gate Boss. From this, if the people of the lower floor decided to take down the Gate Boss, they would clear their side of dungeon and waited for the upper floor outside of the Boss' room. Then one of their comrades informed them from the bulletin board to know if they was also ready. After that, both sides would enter the Boss' room together since the door would close and lock itself after the Boss appeared. No one could go in or out until either the Boss was defeated or everyone inside the room was dead.

Finally, there was also **Memorial Wall** on the left corner of the board, which was a list of people who had ended their lives in the game, as well as in real life, along with the time and the reason of their deaths. It had been more than 2 months and yet there had been, except for 213 people who died on the first appearance of the GM, 3200 deaths because of dying while farming for levels and money. Not everyone was good with games and knew how to use a skill or upgrade their stats accordingly to their fight styles. In this game, there was no magic so the categories of weapons were sword, dagger, spear, and bow. And the only recovery methods were from potions that players could easily buy from any shop in a civic area. Therefore, the players needed to have strategies in order to survive and made themselves stronger to stay alive longer. Most of the reasons for the deaths were going solo. When you were still new to the system and how a new world worked, you must stuck with a group so they could support each other.

And that strategy was most used in the 5th Floor. They suffered the heaviest loss as the number of players decreased from 1000 to only 300 left. Because the monsters here were much stronger comparing to other floors, even though the players always played as a group, they still got killed by a mob of monsters that respawned faster than their healing rate. Therefore, the remaining people were the most experienced players who knew how to divide their stats perfectly. Most of them wore the most expensive equipment they could find from the town's blacksmith. However, those were only a little better than the beginners' ones. Currently, they were all waiting for news from the 3rd floor as there had been a group of players fighting the boss in between the 2nd and the 3th floor.

The gate on 1st floor had been opened on last month, causing 358 casualties from both floors. But in exchange, 2500 players from the 1st floor were reunited with 2000 people on 2nd floor. Now they were working together with 1200 players on the 3rd floor. 800 players on 4th floor and 300 on 5th floor were waiting for the army from the lower floors come to them, as they knew the boss in between 4th floor and 5th floor were way too powerful even if the whole 1100 players came together and fight it. It would be better for them to save the number of lives for higher floors when there were still 95 floors left until they could escape from this world.

* * *

 **30** **th** **August 2030, 15:00, 5** **th** **Floor, Eino Town**

All 300 remaining players on 5th floor had gathering around the bulletin board, waiting anxiously when they saw the Memorial Wall kept getting longer and longer. The news in the middle of the board told them that there was a group of people fighting the boss on the 2nd floor. And nothing had changed for 2 hours. The crowd was noisy as they chat with each other on whether those people could succeed or not. Away from the ground stood two figures next to a pine tree. The view to the board was clear and yet they did not want to show themselves to others. One of them had long marine hair that matched up with the color of her armor, when the other had short orange hair with a side pigtail and wore a dark brown armor. They had been standing there, waiting for the news just like other.

"Ne, Umi-chan. Do you think they can make it?" asked the orange girl.

"Definitely they will. But I'm not sure how big the loss is though, Honka." The blunette sighed.

"It's Ho-no-ka. I already told you that I made a typo when I entered my name."

"Isn't it better for you now if they don't know your real name? I kinda regret for using my real name already. Fortunately, up until now, everyone thinks I like ocean."

"But I prefer you to call me by my real name when we are alone. Well, we are mostly alone with each other anyway."

The girl who was called Honoka shrugged playfully. Umi just sighed in defeat since she could not keep up with the girl's logic. Honka, as known as Kousaka Honoka in real world, was a betta tester Umi accidentally met when they both got teleported to 5th floor. Since they had played the beta version, it was not hard for them to get used to the system and immediately went farming for levels together. Opposite to the others, they stuck with only 2-member group so the EXP would not get shared too much, and at the same time they could level up faster. Because of that, the two of them were among the top 20 players at the moment. Not to mention that most of their equipment were found from mini bosses' drops or hidden quests' awards. The players in 5th floor knew how strong they were and believed that once the battle of the 4th boss began, they would be the vanguard for the whole team.

"By the way, Umi-chan. There is t-…"

"Wait, Honoka. I think they are done."

Interrupting the orange hair girl, Umi focused on the cheering crowd in front of her. It seemed that the gate on 2nd floor had opened successfully. However, that was not what Umi wanted to know. She waited until the crowd dismissed themselves, then moved to the bulletin board to check for the information. Not wasting her time, she counted the number of names that had newly appeared on the Memorial Wall.

10

20

50

"413… 413 people had died in the battle…" The girl whispered in disbelief.

Behind her, Honoka also checked again the list of death. She confirmed that her friend was right. The casualty was bigger than the first battle. If this continued without any changes, by the time they reached 5th floor, they would had lost more than half population from the beginning. Honoka understood more than anyone else that this could not continue any longer. And they must do something about it. Both of them knew about the bosses in each floor up until 10th floor, as it was what all the beta testers had managed to reach in their short 2 months of playing the beta version. And they hope the others beta testers knew what to do at this moment.

Her train of thoughts stopped when Honoka heard a sigh from Umi. She turned to see the softened facial expression from the other girl as Umi looked at her with a smile.

"Honoka, they are still safe. I don't see any names of theirs on the list. They are still alive."

What Umi meant were their friends and relatives that got separated from them since the beginning. Honoka told the blunette before that her younger sister and childhood friend were playing with her. As for Umi, she had Eli and Arisa to be worried about. Every day, both of them came to the board to check if the names of those people appeared anywhere. The least wanted place would be Memorial Wall. They were relieved but not completely until they reunited with their family again.

However, their moment of bliss only lasted until a shocked exclamation was heard besides them. Umi and Honoka quickly turned to the source of the sound. A male player, who was also reading the board, pointed at the news section with a terrified expression on his face. Sensing something was wrong, the girls followed his finger. To their horror, it was an announcement about a group of players were fighting in the boss dungeon on 4th floor that connected to 5th floor. This only meant that among 800 people on 4th floor, there were a bunch of people who were trying to make their way to the 5th floor by themselves.

"What the… Are these people crazy? Why don't they try to go down first? We only have 300 people left here!"

Honoka said with anger. As they biggest problem was human resources, there were still some idiots throwing their lives away.

"Honka, we have to do something. We can't let those people die like that." Umi looked at her friends with concern.

"I know!" The orange girl quickly turned to the male player. "You! Spread this news to others and gather as many people as possible to the dungeon. Remember to leave one person at the bulletin board to check on the 4th floor. We will wait in front of the boss' room."

However, the man was surprised by the sudden order that he did not respond anything. And this got on Honoka's nerve even more.

"The more you're wasting your time, the more people will die. GO NOW!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

The man ran away to do his job. After that, Honoka turned back to Umi, who was giving a disbelief expression.

"Don't tell me that you want us to go help them?"

"Yes I do."

"Clear the whole dungeon by ourselves?"

"Correct."

"Are you crazy?"

"Ye-… No! I'm not crazy. I found a shortcut with less monsters in the dungeon last week, when we hunted around the entrance. With our strengths right now, I know we can clear a path for the rest. And besides, you got Inazuma from that hidden quest. It is the best katana in sword category at this moment."

"But still…"

"No but! We're wasting our time. Let's empty our budget with potions and move out!"

* * *

 **30** **th** **August 2030, 15:00, 5** **th** **Floor, Western Boss dungeon**

"Yaaaaahhh!"

With the final strike, the last monster in the dungeon disappeared, leaving the girls alone in front of the Boss's room doors. Umi let out a sign and put her katana back to its cover. Then she got tackled by the orange girl, pulling themselves to a friendly hug.

"I knew you're strong. Did you say you practice kendo in real life? What dan are you?"

"Yondan and stop hugging me." Umi blushed a little because of the skin contact and coldly pushed Honoka away.

"That makes sense for your sword skill and fighting style. Not many players would choose to go full strong-agility build in this situation. They usually increase their HP capacity more in order to stay alive longer. But you're the only exception. I have never seen your HP went down to 30% when we did farming together."

"OK stop praising me already and focus. I just got a message that our reinforcements are on their way. They will arrive in 5 minutes. And on the other side of the boss' room, the 4th floor group is waiting for us also."

"Accordingly to the plan. I knew it-… OUCH!"

Before Honoka could brag herself more, Umi in a swift movement smacked the girl of her head to make her stop talking.

"That hurts, Umi-chan!"

"You're so reckless, Honoka! What if we died on our way here, what would you do then? Just be thankful that both of us are at level 42 already or we would die long ago."

"I calculated everything so don't worry."

Another sign and Umi was done with arguing. Honoka had been very pushy since the time they formed a group and always made people followed her pace. She was annoying but really caring and funny. Umi knew she just had a good friend when she was alone, trying to survive every day while waiting to meet Eli and her family again. Honoka was a precious friend to her that she could not afford to lose.

"Ah! There they are!"

Honoka cheered as they noticed the sight of the reinforcement coming to their place. The group was still far from them. As Honoka was waving at them…

*Click*

… A sound that terrified Umi more than anything came from behind. With fear existing on her face, Umi slowly turned around, only to meet with a pair of opened door. The darkness soon disappeared as the roll of torches surrounding the room were lightened by themselves. And on the other side of the room, a crowd of players walked into the room in hurry, as the blunette could see clearly that they were chasing a person who was at the front, charging crazily towards her. Even though it was too small, Umi spotted a familiar blond hair among the group.

"Eli… Oh no! This is bad! Honoka!"

Panicking, Umi yelled at Honoka to make the girl turn around. Before she could ask anything, the doors in front of them started to close themselves.

"What the…?"

"No time for questions! We have to go in now Honoka!"

"But our group is…"

"They can't make it! We have to save the ones in the room!"

Honoka did not have enough time to protest when Umi had already taken her hand and dragged her along with the blunette, slipping through the closing doors before they got locked out. Once they got inside the room, Honoka watched the doors behind her slowly covering the sight of the chaotic group yelling their names until they disappeared behind the cold stone wall. Gripping her hand tightly into a fist, once the shallow breathes of a running man coming, Honoka wasted no time to grab his collar and landed her fist onto the person's cheek. Surprised by the impact, the man fell on his back, holding his cheek while his HP bar go down by 5%.

He was in pain, and also in shock that no words escaping from his mouth. Not to mention the culprit for the punch was still staring at him as if she wanted to eat him a life.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" The orange hair girl shouted in anger. "If you opened the door then why didn't you stay there and wait for us instead of running toward here?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ALL OF US?!"

"… I-I'm sorry… I-I thought I could run to your side… and get out of the room…" The man stuttered in fear.

"Even if you are not a beta tester, in the beginner's guide, it is written clearly that once you entered the room, you can't get out of the room without defeating the boss for get yourself killed. **No exception!** "

"I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"

"You… Idiot!"

The man covered his head with his arms, afraid of receiving another punch from Honoka. However, before Honoka could release her anger, Umi stopped her with a pat on her shoulder.

"Leave him be, Honka. We have no time for him. The boss is already here."

Brought back to her sense, Honoka took a look in front of her. The group that previously chase the man suddenly got knocked back as they passed the center of the room. Smoke covering the area as slowly when it got thinner, the silhouette of the boss became clear. When they people were still on the ground, a roar trembled the whole room, sending more fear to the present players. The boss was a Minotaur, 10 meters tall, a muscular body holding big two bloody axes. Its roar shook the ground once more, causing the people who were near to him drop their weapons and quickly ran away for their lives. Seeing those movements, the Minotaur wasted no time to swing his axe, ending several players who had no equipment to protect them from that attack.

Horror, fear, screams soon filled the room as the group got separated and the boss started to chase one by one. Seeing the sight right in front of their eyes, Umi and Honoka got their feet glued to the ground when they had no idea how to deal with the situation. They did not even notice the coward man now ran to the closed doors behind them, scratching desperately trying to make it open. They got overpowered too much that now even the girls were afraid of dying. The orange girl whispered loudly enough for both of them to hear, the true reason that stopped them form making any moves.

"What are we going to do now…?"

Umi froze as she clearly knew along with Honoka that this boss couldn't get defeated with only a few number of players and the equipment they currently had. During the beta version, it took all 500 beta testers and at least 2-3 times using resuscitating items for each to defeat this boss. But now, Umi could only see 100 terrified players who were not ready to fight for their lives. She made a bad decision to drag herself and Honoka into the death pit.

However, not for long that she noticed something. Her mind flicked as she once again spotted the familiar blond hair, trying to dodge the incoming axe. Her stomach burned in fear when her hand grabbed the handle of her katana. The blonde managed to dodge a swipe from the boss, but in result, her sword flew far away from her and she fell down on the floor. Yet, the boss was preparing for another strike. And this time, she could not dodge it anymore.

"Umi! Wait!"

Honoka called out for her friend. But she did not listen anymore. Umi charged out, quickly drew her katana and held it like a javelin. The katana shone in blue light for a moment before Umi threw it with all of her power. At the same time, her shoes also got covered with the same light. Immediately her speed was boosted as she ran as fast as a cheetah toward the blonde.

The blonde froze in place when the axe was above her head for only 5 inches. The clash of the katana stopped the axe to reach its victim as the Minotaur was surprised by a counter from nowhere. After the clash the katana got reflected back and fell down to the ground, catching the boss' attention for a brief moment. Using that, Umi dashed to her target and held the girl tightly between her arms as she threw both of them out of the axe's pathway. Once they got out, the axe landed on the ground, creating another series of trembling. Escaping from the scythe of the death, Umi finally let out a sigh of relieved and comfort the shaking girl in her arms.

"Are you OK, Arisa…?"

Hearing her name called by a calm, warm and dearly voice, the girl looked up to meet with the soft amber orbs trying to soothe her fear. She felt so glad and more relaxed as she recognized the person that she had been waiting.

"Umi-san… Umi-san! I'm so glad to see you!"

The girl buried her teary eyes in between the blunette's breasts, hugging her tightly to celebrate their reunion. Even though Umi wanted to enjoy this moment longer when she just found her best friend's little sister, the sight of another attack coming from the boss reminded her of their current situation. She quickly held the girl and dashed away from their current position, dodging another attack.

"Sorry Arisa but we can talk later. Now we need to finish this and get away from here."

Umi said to the young girl, as she wiped the tears away from Arisa's eyes. The girl' cheeks reddened a little but soon replaced by a smile on her lips and a determined look. She moved away from her senior and drew out her sword.

"If Umi-san is here with me then I'm not afraid anymore."

She said with confidence. Umi nodded in agreement. However, her mood dropped as she realized her katana was on the other side of the boss, which was now focusing on attack her and Arisa. Standing upfront to cover the young girl from danger, Umi tried to think of a way to retrieve her weapon. But nothing came. And yet in her desperation, she completely forgot that she was not alone.

"UMI!"

A shout startled her, and following with a flying object that soon crashed right next to the girls. Taking few seconds to finally recognize that it was her katana, Inazuma, Umi picked it up and checked it stability. 70 over 100. It still could make it. Holding it tightly in her right hand, Umi then looked over the boss, at the sight of the orange hair girl, who already had her sword in her hand, smiling confidently at her. Umi understood what that smile meant and she had no other options than just follow. Receiving the agreement from her friend, Honoka gathered all of her strength, bravery and stamina to persuade the remaining people.

"Everyone! If you still value your lives, pick up your sword and fight for it! Do you want to see your family again or not?!"

Not waiting for answer, Honoka immediately charged in and slashed the boss' leg, making it roar and swing its axe at her. Seeing that, Umi also went it and tried to distract it with strikes and slashes on the other leg. The blonde girl joined in soon later. The sight of 3 girls fighting a 10-meter monster embarrass the male players. They snapped out of their coward and finally picked up their weapons and joined the girls. The attack from the Minotaur was strong but slow so the players could dodge it easily. They took turn to attack and then fall back to evade any incoming strike.

But 15 minutes passed, when stamina was almost running out, the HP bar of the boss was still half full and most of everyone was exhausted. Honoka couldn't stand anymore as she kneeled down to resettle her breaths. Arisa was lying down breathing difficultly when her HP bar dropped to 30%. Umi was the only one left who could still stand. However, her shallow breathing proved that her stamina was also running out and her HP was only 40%. Everyone was low in HP and their potion supply was empty. Umi looked at Inazuma, 20% of durability showed next to it. It was a defeat for them. Umi worriedly checked on Arisa. The girl was out. She could not let the young girl enter the battle anymore and yet she had to protect her even that costed her life. Umi could never face her best friend again if something happened to Arisa. Turned to Honoka, whose HP was only 35% left, the girl greeted here with a cheeky smile and reassuring words.

"Don't worry Umi. I can still fight with you. But we need to think of another plan. Our attacks were only scratches to him."

"I know…"

Answering in between her breaths, Umi then gazed at the Minotaur paralyzed by one of the players who happened to bring a paralyze poison with him. The effect was running out as she saw how its legs started to move again. Panicking, she observed the monster more to find anywhere that they could deal more damage. A flinch from the monster caused a sparkle to catch Umi's attention. It was coming from the head of the Minotaur. Focusing more, Umi detect a gem attached right in the middle of its forehead, between the horns. Quickly opened her inventory to summon a small dagger into her left hand, Umi used the same skill previously and threw the dagger at the gem. The dagger clashed at the gem and broke into data particles. But what she received proved her hypothesis. The Minotaur stepped back and roared painfully, while rising its axes up to cover its head. The corners of the blunette's lips curled up.

"Honka, I know how to kill him. But I need you to be my trampoline."

Having been watching the Minotaur's reaction, Honoka understood clearly what she needed to do. A smile formed on her dry lips. She slowly stood up, summoning her last HP potion in her inventory. After throwing it to Umi, who caught it in surprise, she swung her sword cheerfully as she walked toward the boss.

"We only have one shot so make it good, Umi-chan."

Encouraging her friend without facing her, Umi knew Honoka was serious as this would be their only chance to defeat him. She quickly drank the potion, causing her HP bar to go up to 80%. Holding her katana tightly, she got into her attack pose, ready to use her skills.

"Let's go, Honka!"

Honoka shouted her battle cries and charged into the boss, which already started moving. The Minotaur quickly swung its axe at her. Her broadsword shone in light blue and collided with the axe, causing both of them to be knocked back.

"Switch!"

Umi quickly dashed in front of the orange girl, jumping as high as possible and slashed several times at the arm. The Minotaur roared and swung its arm at the girl. However, the boss suddenly kneeled down, giving Umi time to evade the attack. It turned out to be Honoka who slashed the Minotaur's leg.

"Umi-chan! It's your chance!"

Standing in the position, Honoka was well prepared for Umi's jump. Umi nodded and quickly dashed to her. Taking a jump onto Honoka's broadsword, the girl used the same skill that she did before to knock back the axe. But this time, she wanted to throw Umi up as high as possible.

"Honoka, fall back after this. You're only 10% left."

After giving order to Honoka, Umi let her body fly up as the orange girl swung her sword. When she reached the height of the gem Umi wasted no time to start striking the gem. Taking a quick glance at the boss' HP bar, she noticed the HP had dropped four times as much as before. It was its weakness after all. Umi started moving around its head dodging his attacks with its hands while striking the gem. She did not even notice her HP bar and Inazuma's durability were also dropping.

" _Faster! I need to be faster!"_

Her katana never stopped shining as she consecutively used all of her sword skills. The crowd watched her battle silently as they were all in awe, seeing a female player taking on the boss by herself. It was a race to see whose HP would reach zero first. And right at the moment when the Minotaur about to land his hand onto the girl one last time, Umi used all of her strength to blow her final attack, stabbing the katana straight through the gem. At that moment, all of the movements stopped. No sounds. No moves. Only the cracking sounds came from the gem and the katana. Both of the objects broke at the same time and turned into particles. Moreover, the HP of the boss reached zero. The giant monster slowly changed into particles and disappeared into the air, leaving a floating girl that now started to fall down. She showed no sight of landing safely.

"UMI/UMI-SAN!"

Both Honoka and Arisa freaked out and quickly dashed to their friend. Honoka was the closest one to Umi at that time. Therefore, she managed to catch the girl before she made a contact with the hard ground. Holding the girl tightly in her arms, the orange girl terrified as she saw her friend's HP.

1%

She was so close to die. Only a little more and then she would lose one of her friend. Honoka kept calling the lifeless girl in her arms. Only until Arisa used her last potion on Umi to recover half of her HP, the blunette then started to wake up.

"Umi-chan! Thanks God! You're even more reckless than me! Did you even think that you would die before him?"

The orange girl hugged her friend, crying into her neck. Umi patted the girls' hair gently as an apology and turned to the younger next to her, who was also in teary state. Umi smiled warmly, reassuring the girls that she was alright. On the background, other players shouted her cheers and congratulation as they had defeat the boss, connecting 4th floor to 5th floor. Finally calming herself after the fierce battle, she noticed that in front of her, a system message popped up, telling that she had received the last hit bonus. It seemed that only she could see this message as it was a private one. And the bonus turned out to be **Aqua robe.**

But before she could register the new item, a man from the group that had been fighting with them approached her with a friendly smile on this face. Honoka had finally stopped crying and pulled herself off the blunette, looking at the man in caution. The smile on his man never faded even though he sensed the stiffness from the three girls. Reaching out his hand, he was waiting for a handshake.

"Thank you for saving our lives. We owe you a lot."

The man was in his young twenties with chestnut man bun, tall nose bridge and a manly angled face.

"Thank you… We were fighting altogether so I can't take the credits." Umi politely shook his hand. Even though she was in doubt of this man but she could not show her rudeness. Making new enemy was the least things she wanted to do.

"We should have waited for your group before enter. But unfortunately…"

He trailed off while looking at the slowly opened door leading to the 5th floor. The scardy cat standing outside chose this moment to run off. However, he was blocked by the group of players coming from 5th floor.

"Guys! Don't let him go away!"

Honoka quickly shouted at the group. The scardy cat freaked out and tried to escape. However some of the players in the group reacted quickly enough to apprehend him. The man struggled hard but he could not break off.

"This man almost killed all of us. We will have some punishment for him after this." The chestnut hair man once again turned to look at Honoka and Umi with a smile. "Before we depart, may I have your names? I would like to repay you if we ever meet again."

"My name is Honka. And this is Umi." The mischievous girl replied without hesitation.

"So you two are in the top 20 players. I should have known. The name is Kyle. It is my pleasure to fight with you."

"The pleasure is ours also." The blunette replied politely and bowed at the man after Arisa had helped her to stand up.

"I shall go back to tell the people on my floor about our victory. After a few days of rest, I think we will be able to reunite with the rest of the players. I'm looking forward to see all of you again."

He bid a farewell to them then left to the doors opposite to the crowd. Some of the fighting group fetched the scardy cat man and followed Kyle to the 4th floor. After that, the remaining players cheered for their victory and reunion when Honoka gave her friend a satisfied smile.

"I can't still believe that we actually defeated that boss with only 35 casualties. But I'm sorry for your sword, Umi-chan."

"Don't worry. It isn't that rare anyway. I can find a better sword later. And besides…"

Umi gently looked at the shorter girl clinging on her arm since the end of the battle. The girl suddenly noticed the look of her senior, embarrassingly turned away with a blush.

"… I found my best friend's sister. A step closer to our reunion, Honoka."

"I agree. Oh, I forgot. My name is Kousaka Honoka. My game ID is Honka but you can call me Honoka. Nice to meet you."

Tightening her hold onto Umi's arm, Arisa shyly hid behind the taller girl while looked at the smile of Honoka. "I-I'm Ayase Arisa… My ID is Alice but you can call me Arisa… Nice to meet you."

"So Arisa-chan it is then. But of course only when we are alone. It doesn't go with Umi-chan though."

Honoka shrugged playfully when they victim just shook her head in defeat. The blunette then opened her menu screen. She searched for her equipment as she had nothing to defend herself at the moment.

"What shall we do now, Umi-chan?"

At the end of the question, a katana appeared on Umi's belt and at the same time, her whole body was covered with a blue robe. The upper part's color was the same one with her hair while form her waist down, it was decorated with white waves that made up its name, **Aqua Robe.**

"We will rest then get ready for our big reunion."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you for all of your reviews. I am doing my thesis so probably it will take me 1-2 weeks to finish a chapter. But I can guarantee you that each chapter will contain at least 3000 words. So it would be worth for your wait.**

 **Until next time. Bye Bye!**


	3. Chapter 3

**10** **th** **February 2031.**

It had been almost 6 months since the time all of the players finally got together after the first 5 floors were connected. Veterans and newbies met each other and sharing everything they knew about this game. Since then, less and less players died from farming and hunting. And after they succeeded unlocking the 8th floor, there was a new update in the system that allowed them to learn job skills alternatively besides offensive skills. These jobs skills were more supportive to their lives in the game than to fight monsters, for example cooking, smith, tailoring, etc. After the update, some people who were not fond with battle decided to stay away from the frontline and worked in the background. They gathered ingredients, ores, clothes to create the best equipment they could for the frontline. Because of that, the causalities in boss fight had decreased dramatically. 6500 remaining players had finally adapted to their new reality. However, after half a year, they have managed to reach the 36th floor with more resources and spaces for living. In a new environment when everything worked based on a series of data and rules of a game, there would be chaos and rebels. At the same times, government could not be ignored anymore. A group of people stood up and formed their own government to maintain the peace in Regalia.

* * *

 **11** **th** **February 2031, 11:50, 25** **th** **Floor, Ascend City.**

 **Ascend city,** the main civic area on 25th Floor that was known to be the biggest commercial market in the whole Regalia so far. It was known for some reasons. The **non-PK (non-player-kill)** area was the widest since the whole floor was occupied by the city and other civic area. No monsters were spawned in this floor. Therefore, it was the only non-monster and the safest floor to live. And most importantly, in the middle of the town was the **Teleport Station** which players could use to warp to any opened floor they wanted for free without using **Floor Warp** or **Warp Stone** to move from each floor. Because of that, there were lots of stores and restaurants opened in this town by the players. Therefore, it was the second most crowded city besides the capital on the 1st floor.

Since anyone could find anything in this place, the famous orange hair girl was no exception. Dressing in a white cloak that covered her orange shirt with white sleeves and dark brown pants, while humming a song cheerfully, Honoka walked toward a store in the east side of the city, named "Prophet". Opening the door, causing the bell hanging on the other side of the door to ring and alert the people inside, the girl took her entrance with a mischievous smile.

"Hello everyone!"

She greeted loudly since she expected to see many customers visiting the store. But to her surprise, there was none except for the shop owner herself. On the cashier counter, a purple hair girl, dressing in a violet stripped white dress, had her emerald orbs fixed on the newcomer. Her lips quickly formed into a grin.

"Hey, Honoka-chan. Too bad for you that there is only me here."

"Eh? I thought you would have lots of customers around this time, Nontan."

"Today is a special day and it is No-zo-mi for you at this moment."

"Ahaha… My bad." Honoka scratched the back of her neck apologetically and approached nearer to the purple hair girl. "By the way, these are the ingredients you asked me for."

"Oh good timing. I was about to make a new type of paralyzed potion for the next boss battle. Thanks a lot Honoka-chan."

Replying with a smile, Honoka quickly open the trading window with the purple hair girl. She gave the girl the ingredients and in return, she got some coins back. It was how she earned income in this world in order to buy food and other equipment that she needed to survive. After checking all the items she received form the orange hair girl, Nozomi nodded her head lightly.

"Almost everything I need is here. I just need to wait for Eli and the others to bring the rest for me."

"Now that you reminded me, where is Kotori? I thought she would come to help you with the store." As she was saying, Honoka looked around to find the certain girl.

"There have been several guilds recruiting members so many people go to those recruitment rather than hunting and farming. That's why I don't have much work for Kotori-chan today so I asked her to go help Umi-chan with the hunting quest for me."

"Oh that S-ranked quest? You know Nozomi, you're evil sometimes." Honoka pouted. "Asking Umi to take on that quest by herself. Even though she is in top 10 strongest player in Regalia but still it is too difficult for her to do it alone."

"In the beginning I was asking her and Eli to take it together but Umi insisted on doing it by herself. Not my fault." Nozomi shrugged. "I felt bad also so I sent Kotori to help her right after everything was done in this store."

"That stubborn head…"

Honoka let out a heavy sigh. At that moment, the doorbell rang once again. And walking in was two girls with the same identical blond hair. The taller one was wearing a white and cyan robe with a silver raspier hanging on her left hip while the shorter one was in the same colored manteaux with the other. The couple walked in and greeted the people present in front of them.

"Hey there, we're back." The taller blonde exclaimed. "It's been a while, Honoka. How have you been doing?"

"Hello Eli-chan. And Arisa-chan too. Doing just fine with hunting and part time job for Prophet."

Honoka replied cheerfully as she went to hug the girls.

"Yeah I did get lots of complains about a girl taking all of the available quests in all towns lately when I was with my Guild. I hope that wasn't you, Honoka."

Eli shot a sharp glare at the orange girl, who just scratched her hair again apologetically. The taller blonde sighed while Arisa and Nozomi giggled amusingly.

"Anyway, Nozomi, we got all the ingredients you requested. But to be honest, what are you planning to brew with this many?"

"Just wait and see, Elichi. My brewing skill is almost maximized already so I'm really close to be able to create that legendary potion." Nozomi replied while doing the trade with Eli. "I just need to make a few more potions to master my skill while waiting for Umi-chan to bring back the most important ingredient."

"Somehow… I have a really bad feeling about this."

Eli sensed a chill running down her spine as the purple hair girl flashed a grin at her.

Nontan, or Toujou Nozomi, was a player she met during her time of farming and leveling on second floor. Both of them were teleported to the floor and ended up meeting each other while struggling to survive by themselves. Nozomi was not a beta tester or a veteran gamer but she was a fast learner and had a cool head that she managed to stay calm in most situations. Because of that, she saved Eli several times when the blonde was so impatient to find her best friend and her sister. In the end, Eli was persuaded by Nozomi's calmness and decided to work together. Without their realizing, they had become close friends even after they had met up with Honoka, Umi and Arisa on 4th floor. After that, Eli had been one of the aces leading the army to conquer the boss stages to open the gate of the next floor. **Golden Lightning** was what the people called her for her speed and critical sword style. Earning from her reputation and strength, she became the vice master of **Silverbreaker,** one of the three strongest guilds who governed Regalia to maintain its peace and order. Her sister, Arisa, also joined **Silverbreaker** as a recommendation from Eli. Even though she was not as strong and experienced as her big sister, her hardworking and enthusiasm helped the guild to finish many quests, bringing back lots of income and reputation for the guild so she was able to stay in the same guild with her sister.

As for Nozomi, she preferred to stay in the background and supported the frontlines with her cheap and effective potions. Her store had its own popularity and it was doing really well. Sometimes during her off-duty time, Eli would visit Nozomi's place and helped her finding the ingredients that she needed and also helped her with the leveling. The same went with Honoka and the others.

"I think they are about to finish by now." Nozomi said as she looked at the digital time showing in the corner of her vision.

"I highly doubt so. It seems that for some reasons, Umi-chan doesn't get along with Kotori-chan. I wonder why…" The orange girl replied with a sad expression on her face, earning herself a consoling pat on her shoulder from the taller blonde.

"Don't worry, Honoka. I know Umi is just shy around new people. She isn't the type that easily socializes with anyone like you."

"But she wasn't like that when we first met each other. Why does Umi-chan treat us differently?"

"… I don't have an answer to that. Only Umi knows why…"

Eli and Honoka looked at each other before sighed in unison.

Minami Kotori, or in the game known as Tori, was Honoka's best friend in real life. She joined NAO because of Honoka's recommendation and got separated from her friend after the teleportation incidence. She struggling by herself on 3rd floor, avoiding any battles that could risk her life as much as she could since she had no experience in games. Only until Eli and Nozomi accidentally met her after they managed to open the gate in between second floor and third floor. They found her fighting blindly with a swamp of monster in front of a safe zone while her HP bar was only 10% left. In the end, Eli and Nozomi taught her everything about the game system and other skills she needed to survive until they met up with the rest of their acquaintances. After that, she adapted to the new world and sharpened her offence skills from time to time. However, she was not a type of warriors like Eli, Honoka or Umi so she preferred to stay back like Nozomi and opened a clothing shop by herself. Not actively participating in any boss fights but she occasionally joined the frontline when she felt so since she was one of the rare players who chose to go purely ranged damage. In this world, ranged damage, or using bows and arrows, were the most risky offence style when the players required to always stay in group and had good positioning to support the frontline as well as dealing damage to the target. Because of that, their dodging abilities were weak and easily got killed in the battle if their positioning was bad. Therefore, spears were more preferable among the players. But since she had been going with this style form the beginning, Kotori had mastered her shooting skills and became one of the strongest archers in Regalia. All of the guilds wanted to recruit her, even Eli personally asked her to join their guild but Kotori rejected them all and remained in the support line.

* * *

 **11** **th** **February 2031, 12:00, 30** **th** **Floor, Frozen Mountain.**

30th floor was well-known for its icy and cold weather. The whole floor was covered in snow and ice. The freezing storm never stopped, ensuring the whole place was always buried under layers of white snow. Players rarely came to this floor because of its harsh weather. However, it was the required place to obtain rare items and equipment for most of the high ranked quests. Through the heavy storm, two silhouettes slowly moved their feet on the track curling around the mountainside, leading up to the peak. In the white and blue robe, almost mingling into the background if the long dark blue hair was hidden under the hood, the person went ahead, trying to move her body through the coldness and the snow gluing her feet down on the ground. Eventually, she turned back to check on the person behind her, who was struggling under the light green robe. The girl in white robe halted her steps for a moment to check her front. There was a cave hiding besides the track not far from her location that was almost buried in snow because of the storm. If she did not know about a shortcut from a messenger in a town she visited, she would bypass it and took another hour of walking in this kind of weather.

Suddenly, a yelp came from behind and caught her attention. Immediately, with her reflex, the girl turned around and caught the person's hand as they were slipping and almost falling off the mountain because of the snow. Using her strength, she pulled the person closer to herself and said loudly, scaring that the storm would eat all of her voice.

"Hang on! We're almost there!"

Without letting go of their hands, the girl led the other to the cave and escaped the coldness as fast as they could. Even though they only felt 15% of the temperature change in this world, walking in the storm for one hour straight was enough to their real bodies feel the chill. It wasn't as pleasant as they thought after all.

After 5 minutes, they managed to enter the cave. Letting go of their hands, the girl in the white robe put down her hood, reveling the long silky marine hair while her amber eyes were locked on the panting person next to her. A moment later, the person in green robe finally put down the hood of the robe, letting the ashy blond hair fell down naturally. A lock of her hair was tied up into a side ponytail on her right with a green ribbon. The girl finally straightened her back, connected her amber orbs with the same colored eyes of the other person.

"Thank you, Umi-chan. For saving me back then."

Her sweet angelic voice could melt any hearts of innocents. Her smile shined like a sun in dawn. It was no doubt that after the legendary **Golden Lightning** and the **Blue Blade** in front of her, she had the biggest fan club of her own established by the male players that were captured by her sweet talks and cute figure. Her companion was not any different when the blunette was clearly uncomfortable after hearing it. She quickly avoided eye contact, trying to hide her shyness that could be seen in the dark cave.

"It-It's nothing. Honoka would kill me if something happened to her best friend…" She stuttered. "Let's go. We need to finish this soon and return to the city… I want to kill that purple prophet for sending you here without my consent already." Her voice was quiet down as the final sentence was almost a whisper to herself, causing the ashy blonde to be curious.

"What did you say in the end? I didn't quite catch it."

Kotori moved closer to the girl. Noticing their distance was shortened, the blunette turned around to hide a blush on her face and created more space between them. She told the other girl not to worry about it and then open her inventory to take a torch that she was prepared. Once the cave was lightened, they started to move in deeper, exploring the area. While walking Umi avoided any eye contact with the other girl as most as possible. Kotori noticed this and found it quite amusing. Since the time they first met each other, the blunette had been acting really shy especially around her. It seemed that it was also partly her fault since Kotori clung on the girl a little bit too much in the beginning. Honoka did warn her that Umi was not fond with skin contact and yet she forgot it most of the time and followed her habit. Because of that, Umi always created a distance between them and it hurt the ashy blonde a little. But teasing the blunette had become a new hobby of hers.

Giggling at her thoughts, Kotori did not realize her whereabouts until the girl in front of her stopped. The shallow cave disappeared. In front of them was a wide area built in ice and snow. And in the middle was a giant floating white crystal that was supposed to be their target.

"So this is the Frozen Heart of Regalia in the quest…" The blunette confirmed. "But how do we get it then?"

Their quest was to collect a piece of the heart, which was a super rare ingredient for many potions and equipment. The quest was only available once and it seemed that no one had completed it yet.

"Umi-chan. Do you find it strange?" The blonde asked in concern as she moved closer to the blunette.

"Like how easy it is for us to come here? Yes it worries me since the beginning."

Umi quickly summoned her katana, which appeared on her left hip, and observed her surroundings. Kotori did the same, wearing a brown quiver behind her back while her left hand was holding a green curve bow. She reached over her shoulder to grab a white-feather bow and loaded it. Looking around while aiming with her arrow, her ability **Eagle Eye** was activated to detect any invisibility within her range. Her job was a huntress, different from an alchemist who made money from creating and selling potions like Nozomi; or a bounty hunter who received any game quests, players' requests to earn income like Honoka. Kotori hunted monsters for items and valuables then sold them to those in need of them for bigger price. It was why she was in the top of the **MvP kills Ranking.** Most of her items and skills were used for monster, not for **PvP**. Therefore, Kotori usually went for hunting with Honoka or during nights if she went alone to avoid getting killed by other players.

Back to the cave, the tension had been increased by the ashy blonde when she kept her pose, making her partner to look at her with concern. Scanning the whole room slowly, Kotori suddenly pointed her arrow at Umi's direction, startling the girl. However, the blunette composed herself quickly; her hand reached the handle of her katana quietly. Her attention was fixed on what was behind her at that moment when she realized where Kotori had her eyes on. Then, slowly, her calm eyes met a pair of amber. Her own amber orbs were soft and yet full of trust on her partner.

A small sigh and the slim fingers keeping the arrow loosened themselves. The arrow coldly flew toward the blunette. However, Umi kept her composure and remained still. Her hand on the katana tightened its grip as the arrow passed through the air, only an inch away from her left ear. Supposed to aim at the empty space, however, the arrow was topped in the middle air. A horror scream of an animal came along. A blurry figure appeared right behind Umi. The blunette drew out her katana and made a quick turn to slash whatever was behind her, earning another scream. This time, the invisible creature had revealed itself. A giant anaconda with a mix of blue and silver scales and a pair of bloody killing eyes with an arrow stuck in between them. The monster hissed loudly at them and swung its tail at Umi. The girl wasted no time to dodge by jumping up and landing on it. Then, she pointed her blade at the long torso and stabbed it with all of her power. However, her blade got deflected and flew backward, causing the bluenette to lose her balance for a moment. Seeing this, the anaconda moved its tail swiftly, knocking off the swordswoman. A loud thud was heard as the girl's back touched the solid ground.

"Umi-chan!"

The ashy blonde quickly drew three arrows from her quiver and shot at the anaconda, which resulted in the same situation as Umi's katana when they were flew backward and dropped on the floor. However, that borrowed a few seconds for Umi to regain her posture and create a distance between them and the monster.

"Umi-chan, are you OK?" Kotori patted the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But the scales are too hard. I can't penetrate it."

"Neither are my arrows. But it seems that this mini boss is a part of the quest. Look how it guards the frozen heart."

The ashy blonde pointed out the fact that the anaconda was wandering around the frozen heart, trying to prevent from getting near. It hissed at them but did not make a move from its current position since the girls were out of its range. Taking note of the situation, Umi agreed that they would have to take down the anaconda in order to finish the quest. It was an S-rank quest after all. Umi would not expect it to be any easier.

"I guess as long as we are out of its reach, we're safe. But how can we defeat it then?" Umi observed the situation. Her genius brain of a young doctor worked with all of its will to find a solution.

While waiting for Umi's response, Kotori tested her chance with her arrows. She shot randomly at the anaconda, hoping for any strange movement that could be the solution they were finding. Until the mini boss suddenly flinched and curled up to cover itself. The strange reaction caught Umi's attention.

"Wait… What did you do, Kotori?"

"I'm not sure… Let me try again."

Kotori loaded her arrow and pulled the string, this time she was determined on where she should hit. The arrow was released and hit the blue scales of the boss. However, it wasn't reflected but instead, it stabbed deeply inside the scale, causing the anaconda to hiss painfully. Seeing that, Kotori formed a mischievous smile on her pinky lips and got ready on her next shot.

"Umi-chan, I think I know your answer already."

* * *

 **11** **th** **February 2031, 12:30, 25** **th** **Floor, Ascend City.**

"Wow, they sure take their time a lot. How long do we have to wait for them more?"

The orange hair girl whined when she sat nervously on her chair next to the cashier counter. Opposite her, the older blonde seemed to be in the same shoes with her as she tapped her fingers on the counter restlessly while looking at the store's doors.

"I'm worried about them. Should we go to check on them?" The younger blonde asked in concern.

"We don't need to, Arisa-chan. Honoka-chan, hold your horse and sit down properly for one minute please. And Elichi, stop that tapping. I know you're worrying about Umi-chan and Kotori-chan but they are the top players in their leagues so trust them a bit."

"I know, Nozomi." Eli let out a heavy sigh. "But I still feel guilty for not going with her. If something happened to them, it would be my fault…"

"Come on, Eli. Umi is as strong as you. And she knows what she is doing. She can take care of herself and Kotori. I'm sure she won't let herself get killed that easily." The purple hair girl placed her hand onto the blonde's shoulder to comfort the girl. "And she is a responsible person that will never leave her best friend behind."

Looking at the soft hand on her shoulder, then back to its owner, Eli smiled gently and thanked the other girl. However, her concern was cleared right away after the doorbell rang off. The three sitting girls immediately stood up when the owner of the store remained her pose calmly as she greeted the newcomers warmly.

"Welcome back, Umi-chan, Kotori-chan."

"We're back." Replied by the ashy blonde.

Kotori walked into the store first, still in her light green robe. She immediately got tackled by her orange hair friend while the girl in blue and white robe behind her got hugged by the young blonde.

"Kotori-chan! Umi-chan! We're so worried about you. What took you so long?" Honoka hugged tightly, earning herself some comforting pats on her back.

"I'm sorry. It was more difficult than we thought. But we're fine."

"You should have called for help if it was too much to handle." The tall blonde approached them, glancing at the bluenette who just smiled apologetically at her while patting the young girl in her arms.

"I have to admit that I underestimated S-rank quests a lot. All the credits for today I will give to Kotori." Umi turned to look at the mentioned girl with sincere. "Without your help, I'm not sure if I can finish it and come back here alive or not. Thank you, Kotori."

The ashy blonde blushed lightly as she saw the shy girl smiled at her for the first time. She mumbled her reply softly and turned away to hide her embarrassment. But all of these reactions were caught by her best friend, who was right next to her, and the sharp purple hair prophet who had been observing everything from the beginning. Nozomi grinned to herself and interfered the warm greeting to clean up all of the awkwardness that the dense blue hair swordswoman had created.

"Anyhow, I assumed that the quest is completed successfully right? Thank you for your hard work."

"Ah right. Here is the **Frozen Heart** that you're looking for." Umi walked towards Nozomi and opened the trading window.

"Thank you, Umi-chan and Kotori-chan. With this, all of the required ingredients for the legendary potion are ready. All left is to master my brewing skill."

"Just out of my curiosity, what exactly is the legendary potion, Nozomi?"

"You will know soon, Umi-chan. For now, it is a secret until I finish it." Umi was confused by the mysterious answer she received. "OK, people. I made lunch for all of you as my appreciation for your helps. Let's go eat!"

* * *

 **11** **th** **February 2031, 17:00, 25** **th** **Floor, Ascend City.**

After their nice meal together, each of the girl went back to their work. Nozomi prepared the potions for some guilds' orders. Honoka offered to help her since she had done all of the quests in all civil places for today. The Ayase sisters went back to their guild headquarter after they received an emergency order from their guild master. That left Umi and Kotori went back to their home alone. The trip to **Teleport station** was quiet but comfortable as both girls enjoyed each other's company. Recalling their fight with the boss, Umi admired on Kotori's skills and compose. She deserved her title as the best **MVP player** in Regalia. The ashy blonde did not take long to find the weak points of the anaconda and collaborated well with Umi, whom she had never fought together with. The bluenette knew how their fighting style was different from Honoka's and yet Kotori matched her rhythm so well that they took down the boss in a short moment. Getting lost on their way back was the main reason why they were late but both of them could not tell the others about that embarrassing situation. However, Umi came to realized that she was more comfortable around Kotori than before. The ashy blonde was full of surprise. Mischievous and cheerful in daily life but fierce, determined and calm during battle, the bluenette understood clearly why this girl was famous, not only for her cute look but also for her skills and well manners. Still drown in her thoughts, Umi did not notice their arrival to the station until the blonde turned around to look at her.

"I guess I will see you around then. If I'm not too busy with my cloth shop."

"I'll pay you a visit once I have time. I'm not a bounty hunter like Honka so I can help you whenever you need." Since there were many people around them, the girls had to use their game ID to call each other.

"Thanks a lot for the offer. I had fun with you today." Kotori smiled widely.

"Right, about that. There is something that I want to give you."

Umi requested a trade with the blonde, earning a questioned look from the other girl. Once the trading screen appeared, Kotori's eyes went from being confused to getting shocked when she saw the item that Umi was offering to her.

"Umi-chan, I can't accept this."

"Why not?" Umi asked in confusion.

"This is the item that dropped from the mini boss, isn't it? It's an S-rank ingredient. You should keep it." Kotori tried to explain when she pointed at **Frozen Scale** on the screen.

"I know but you deserve to have it more than me. You killed that boss but I got the item just because I was the party leader. And besides, I don't have tailor or smith skills enough to turn it into a good equipment."

"But my skills aren't enough either."

"They will eventually. You own a tailor shop anyway. I'm sure it is more useful for you than me. Just keep it for the time being as a token of my appreciation for you."

The ashy blonde was reluctant to accept. It was a valuable item that all of the bounty hunters were thirst for and yet she got it too easily. However, the insisting look from those amber orbs were melting her heart.

"Please, Tori?"

There it was. The final shot to knock out the poor bird. Kotori let out a sigh and pressed on the accept button. Umi smiled in relief when Kotori finally took her present.

"Thank you, Umi-chan. I promise that I'll make a use of your present with my best."

"It's nothing at all. Thank you for helping me today."

"I'll see you around, Umi-chan."

"Yes. See you too, Tori."

Kotori took a warp stone from her waist bag and held in her hand. Before she went into the warp gate, the blonde quickly skipped to the bluenette, surprise her with a kiss on the cheek and went back to the warp.

"That's my return gift. Good night, Umi-chan."

With that, the warp stone in her hand shone brightly and her whole body slowly faded away into the warp gate, leaving behind a bewildered figure who froze in her pose. Taking her a few seconds to register what just happened, Umi finally realized the reality. Her face and ears turned bright red. And she had to hide her embarrassment in her hands. Fortunately for her that not so many people were around or else they would see the mighty **Blue Blade** was shot down by a kiss of a bird.

* * *

 **Author's note: Hello all! Sorry for the long wait. I'm really busy with school so I'll try to write and post whenever I have time. But I can't guarantee the time for each update. But I'm sure I won't drop this. Please read and review. And thank you for your patience.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**July 2031.**

More than a year had passed in both real life and Regalia. The incident was recognized as a national terrorism case by Japanese government. However, no matter how their medical and technical teams tried, 6500 victims were still stuck in the game with the **NeuVice** attached on their head. All of them were being hospitalized in all the healthcare centers around the country, being supplied by nutrition and fluids in order to keep them alive while waiting for a solution to save them all. When the government tried to solve the problem, even shut down **Seed Corp.** and apprehended all the involved developers to find a lead, they still saw a dead-end ahead.

Yet, the people living in Regalia had already gotten used to the new world so much that eventually, they forgot which their real lives were. At the time the 58th floor was opened, less and less boss battles were organized. The number of the vanguard army reduced by time. And until now, they had reached the 65th floor but no boss battles had occurred for 2 months. All of the top guilds tried to encourage people on reaching the top floor as soon as possible to escape the game. However, the people enjoyed this new world too much that they did not want to go back to their old lives anymore. The situation had been idled for a long time.

* * *

 **30** **th** **July 2031 16:05. 48** **th** **Floor. Akiba city. Sakura Garden.**

On the 48th Floor, Akiba city was the only civic place that was inspired by Japanese culture. All of the buildings and NPC's clothes were all Japanese related. Not to mention that in the middle of the city located the biggest garden in Regalia. It was filled with forest of cherry blossom trees and many other Japanese flowers that created a fascinating landscape. The place was well known to be a dating site and for other relaxing purposes. And for a person who was so proud of her Japanese tradition, Umi was not an exception for choosing this city as her permanent residence. As usual, when she did not have any plan to do for the day, she would choose an empty spot under a full-bloom sakura tree and lay down while staring at the blue sky. Even though she was one of the active and core member of the vanguard army, she had lots of free time lately due to the fact that no one was interested in clearing the boss room anymore. She missed her real life, her parents, but this world brought her so much fun and even new friends that she did not want to come back yet. It was like a dream that she wished she would never wake up.

Suddenly, her train of thoughts was interrupted by a shade of a figure. The newcomer blocked all of the sun rays while staring down at her. She could not recognize who it was until she heard the familiar voice from the person.

"There you are, Umi. I should have known you are always here. You love this place too much."

"You're blocking the sun, Elichika."

The bluenette replied in annoy. She was not surprised to see her best friend looking for her. Umi preferred to be a solo player most of the time. However, Eli and Honoka were always annoyed her with their suggestion of staying as a group all the time. That was why Umi always found her chances to run away and hide from them, especially when Eli kept bugging her to join the blonde's guild.

"What do you want from me this time, Elichika?" Umi sat up to look at the ponytail blonde in white-cyan robe more clearly.

"So I'm not allow to see my best friend anymore? Geez you're becoming more salty through time Umi." The blonde pouted while folding her arms in front of her chest.

"I would like to hang out with my friend when we have time ALONE." Umi emphasized the last word as she shifted her gaze to the black-hair man standing behind Eli, wearing the identical uniform with the blonde.

"I can't help it. It's the guild's rules for high positions to have at least one bodyguard all the time. I'm the vice leader anyway." Eli shrugged. "And besides, Chris won't go away no matter how many times I told him that I need some privacy."

As being mentioned, the man bowed politely at the blonde. "Protecting Elichika-sama is my job. I can't neglect it."

"See?" Eli said bitterly.

"Is this because of all the reports for those **PK** incident lately?" Umi voice turned more serious.

"Yeah… Our leader is afraid of assassination so he wants all of the core members in the vanguard army to be protected until we all return to the real world. Our main tasks recently is to hunt down the **PK** gangs and shut them down before more people die."

In any worlds, there were always good and bad existing at the same time. When someone tried to help others, there would always be a person to the exact opposite thing. And these **PK** gangs were present for that idea. Some people still did not believe in the mutual death between Regalia and the real world. Getting bored of killing monsters, they found the new hobbies on killing people, especially weak ones who were not familiar with battle. For them, this was just a game. Umi had heard about the situation and caught several **PK players** before. But the top guilds found out that there were some dark guilds that consisted of strong **PK players** hiding somewhere, waiting for creating chaos that they found it more exciting than the current peace. No people had died since floor 38 was opened and yet it started again. This time, human was their biggest fear.

"OK, forget that. What is your real intent, Elichika? I'm sure you won't go that far to find me just for a little chit-chat."

"Sharp as always. I'm here to deliver a personal invitation from my guild's leader. He still wants you to be a part of our guild."

"Send him an apology for me please, Elichika. As always, I kindly decline it. And the reason is still the same. I prefer to be a solo player."

"You can still be a solo player even when you join a guild."

"Not when you have a tail following you all the time." Umi looked at the man, who was annoyed by her words. "I'm a core member of the vanguard army. If I joined your guild, I would have to follow your policies, which means I would get a tail for my own and how can that be called solo anymore?"

"That's for your safety."

"Please, Elichika. You're not weak to be killed that easily. **Golden Lightning** is one of the top 10 most powerful players in Regalia. I highly doubt that you need this kind of thing."

"Uh…." Eli slowly glanced at the angry man behind her before she sighed heavily. "You have a point. But still, our leader won't stop asking until you join us."

"As well as other guilds. You're not the only one who keeps inviting me into their guilds." Umi sighed, rubbing her tempers with her slender fingers. "Nico and Pile just talked to me about this yesterday and I had to hide from them in the boss dungeon on the 68th floor."

"What? You mean the leader and the vice leader of **U's** guild, Nico and Pile?" The sapphire orbs opened widely in surprise.

"Exactly what I just said."

"Urg… They managed to convince Honka before me. Now they are trying to snatch my Umi away from me? How dare they?" Emi clenched her fist.

"I'm not yours or anyone's, Eli. And why do you guys so bother about this? I'm still helping around anyway."

"It's for your own benefits, Umi. There are some buffs that are only available for guild members when they stay together. The stronger the guild is, the stronger buffs they receive. That's why we need strong and capable members for the whole guild's benefits."

"I know but I don't need those buff. I'm doing fine by myself. I enjoy my freedom than following rules and wearing uniform. At least I can do something on my own decisions for the first time, not just following other people's wishes. I'm sure you understand what I mean, Elichika."

The sadness reflected on amber orbs caused Eli to struggle on her words. Being Umi's childhood friend, Eli understood how strict Umi's family was. And for all of her life, Umi had to achieve all of the goals that her parents set. Even being a doctor, it was her parents' wish for her to follow the family's tradition. She had to throw her dream becoming a composer away to fulfill her family's expectations. The blonde sighed again when the atmosphere suddenly went tense.

"And yet whenever I thought I could convince you this time, you had to bring this up. You know this is not that serious. I can ask the leader to make an exception for you on this new rule."

"Thank you for your offer, Elichika. But again, I won't change my mind." Umi lay down again and closed her eyes, gesturing the blonde to leave.

"I know how stubborn you are. But I didn't know that you're THIS stubborn." Eli face palmed. "I can't do this alone anymore. Help me please, Tori."

The name of a certain girl caught the bluenette's attention as her eyes opened and she quickly sat up like a roly-poly. She did not expect that girl be here. Especially not with Eli or wearing the identical color uniform with Eli. The aforementioned girl shortened the distance between them as she had been observing their conversation from afar. Smiling sweetly at the surprised bluenette, the ashy blonde stood next to Eli with a brown-hair man following her behind. He was her personal bodyguard just like Chris.

"Hello Umi-chan." Her voice sounded soft but to Umi, it was the sound of devil. They had been friends for a while but she could not maintain her compose around the girl without any reasons. The ashy blonde automatically became her weakness and for god's sake, Eli had found out about that.

"T-Tori? Why are you wearing the same robe with Elichika? And what is with that man following you?"

"Because I'm a member of **Silverbreaker** now. And he is my bodyguard as I have joined the vanguard army not long ago."

"Is this what happened when I didn't participate in the last few boss battles? I thought you only wanted to do **MvP** hunts."

"Well I still prefer doing that now. But it seems that the army is in need of ranged attack in recent boss battles more than ever. So I can't stay out of this any longer. I want to help in any ways and Elichika came to request my participation personally. I couldn't decline, you know." Kotori replied cheerfully. "And besides, I realize that I do need extra hands in **PvP** battles in the current situation. Honka-chan already joined **U's** so she can't be with me all the time."

"That's why she agreed to join us for the protection policies. It's the best for both sides." Eli continued.

"I can't believe this." Umi shook her head, trying to ignore the headache she was dealing with. "And why is she here again?"

"I thought Tori could change your mind somehow." Eli smirked. "We all know how you become when you're around with her."

Eli was a sly fox. Umi knew that. Only with a few words, that blonde managed to make her blush deeply. Seeing her red face, Kotori giggled in amuse and that only embarrassed the bluenette even more. Could not bear with the embarrassment anymore, Umi quickly summoned a warp stone from her inventory and teleported away, not giving any time for Eli and Kotori to react. Before they could catch the bluenette, she already disappeared right in front of her. Eli sighed heavily in defeat.

"She ran away again. This is even harder than killing a boss. This girl is unbelievable."

"Be easy on her, Elichika." Kotori patted her friend's shoulder. "Maybe we should respect her decision. She's quite determined on this."

"Tell that to the leader. He won't stop bugging me with this task until Umi joins our guild. I'm sure he is really obsessed about her." Eli rubbed her tempers to sooth the headache. "He even ordered Alice to assist me with this, knowing our close relationships with Umi."

"Now you mention about that. He wasn't that insist to have me in his guild in the beginning. The total number of your invitations for me wasn't equal to one tenth of yours for Umi. And how long have you been asking her?"

"Since the time the guild was first established, when we were just a small guild that the leader had to personally beg people to join the guild. Umi had always been his first priority."

"That's quite some scary obsessions."

"I know right? I don't want to bother Umi but this is giving me a headache."

"I'm still wondering what makes Umi want to keep her decisions that much." Kotori softened her eyes. "Even though I couldn't catch all of your conversation, I could see there was one moment that both of you became serious and sad. Was it a sensitive topic?"

There was a long pause before Eli could answer the ashy blonde. She knew the answer but she could not expose her best friend's privacy. It should be Umi's own decision to tell her stories to anyone.

"I think you should ask Umi about this. I'm not in the right place to answer anything about her personal life."

"I understand." Kotori weakly smiled. She had been curious about the bluenette since the first time they met. There was something about the girl that attracted her so much that she wanted to get close to her as most as possible. She was jealous of Eli, for being Umi's childhood friend and knew many things about the girl when Kotori knew nothing. Somewhere in her heart, she wanted to be trusted by the bluenette and stayed by her side.

"I guess we're done for today. I'm not going to bother myself with another search for that blue head. Chris, Dan, you're dismissed." Eli turned to the men who had been standing still, quietly observing them for the whole time. The command took the by surprise. The black hair man tried to protest.

"But… it is our jobs to-"

"I know. But we'll be fine. I'll escort Tori for the rest of the day. Don't tell me that you guys want to come with us to our own houses."

"N-No. We're not dare to do that… But…"

"It's the vice leader's order. If the leader asks anything, just tell him that it's my responsibility for our own safety. So just go and have your free time." The voice of Eli sounded more serious and sharper than before.

"Yes… Please take care, Elichika-sama. Tori-sama."

The two men reluctantly bowed at the girls and left quickly. The two girls were now left alone. Until she was sure that no one followed them anymore, Eli finally softened her aura and sighed again.

"I hate to admit that Umi was right. This is annoying. It's not like I can't protect myself or anything."

"I thought it was a good idea at first. But not until he literally followed me everywhere." Kotori smiled nervously.

"I have a feeling that this is getting more similar to **SAO** than before."

Kotori giggled to clear the tense atmosphere. "Since we still have half a day until our next quests for tomorrow, do you want to come to my place for dinner? I found lots of rare ingredients yesterday but I can't finish all by myself. I was about to invite Umi also but she ran away, you know."

"Oh really? In that case I can't find any reason to refuse such an offer. But is there only me and you?"

"Yeah probably. I asked Nozomi-chan and Honoka-chan before but both of them told me that they were busy with some personal business so they can't come this time."

"It sounds a lot like a date between us." Eli smirked, which earn a cheerful hit on her shoulder by the other.

"You know I'm only being kind to my friends."

"I'm just kidding, Kotori. I know you only have Umi in your heart."

"I…" Without realizing, Kotori's face reddened. Another bullseye. Eli had so much fun teasing these two girls. She and Nozomi had noticed the affection between them and tried to set them up many times. But poor Kotori, Umi was such a shy and diligent person with dignity that they could not get any closer than normal friends. Moreover, Kotori never told them that she wanted to be anything more than friends with Umi. Because of that, Eli and Nozomi just gave up and let everything happen naturally. But they would always enjoy teasing both girls until they got bored of it, which would never happen.

"Ok no more tease from me for today. Let's go to your house then. It's been a while that I have tried your cooking."

* * *

 **24** **th** **August 2031 11:15. 25** **th** **Floor. Ascend city.**

On the busy street filled with people, a famous blue hair walked calmly with the flow of the crowd. The famous **Blue Blade** had some free time for herself after she had helped with the boss battle on 69th floor, successfully opened 70th floor. On her way back, she encountered with some mini bosses that now it gave her a headache. Folding her arms in front of her chest while thinking of a solution. She kept wandering around the city, with no fixed destination. The bluenette only stopped when she suddenly bumped into a stranger that woke her up from her thought.

"My apology! I didn't see you there." Umi quickly apologized and helped the person to stand up, only to be surprised by the identity of the person she just bumped into. "Kayo-san?"

"Ah, Umi-san. It's been a while."

Kayo, or in real life Koizumi Hanayo, was a short chestnut hair girl with green eyes that she met few months ago. The girl was super shy, quiet girl that was 2 years younger than Umi. She was not fond with battle so she opened a restaurant on the 25th floor and sold food to other players for income. Umi once visited her restaurant during an empty day so they had time to get to know each other. Occasionally, Umi helped her gathering all the ingredients for her next day of business. Eventually, Umi had become one of Hanayo's few friends.

"Yeah it's been a while. I'm sorry about that. I honestly didn't see where I was going."

"It's rare to see you so distracted. Is there something bothering you?"

"Good timing. I have something to ask you. How is your cooking skill?"

"Eh?" The shorter girl was surprise by the sudden question. "Well, it's because I only cook common recipes so I'm still two levels away from the max level. It would be faster with rarer recipes though."

"I see…" Umi sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry that I can't help you, Umi-san." The girl freaked out. Her eyes were wet with tears that were waiting to run down any time. Seeing that, the bluenette quickly comforted the younger girl to prevent creating any unnecessary scene.

"No it's not your fault. But I think there is something else that you can help me."

"Eh?" Hanayo wiped away her tears. "What is it?"

"Do you know any good blacksmith around here? I found a rare ingredient but I don't have the skill to forge it."

"I do know someone who owns a weapon shop. Coincidentally, I'm visiting her right now. Do you want to come along with me?"

"If you don't mind."

* * *

 **A/N: A short update from me because I'll be away pretty long in the future so I have no idea when I can write and update again. But please kindly leave some reviews for me on this story so at least I have motivation to not drop this story at all.  
**

 **Thank you all~**


	5. Chapter 5

**24** **th** **August 2031 12:00. 25** **th** **Floor. Ascend city.**

"We have arrived."

The short chestnut-hair girl exclaimed as they arrived in front of a weapon shop in the east side of the city. The blunette looked up at the sign of the shop. "Nyan", the name confused her for a moment as she thought they had arrived to the wrong place. It did not sound like a weapon shop at all. However, Hanayo claimed that the owner was a friend of hers and had maximized their forging skill so Umi had no other choices but to believe in her friend. The blunette took a deep breath then followed the girl. Hanayo pushed the wooden door open, softly called out to greet the person inside.

"Rin-chan, I'm here."

"Ah, Kayo-chin! Come in!"

A mischievous voice answered her. Umi was still standing outside so she could not know who it was. Only then Hanayo smiled at her and gestured her to come in while holding the door for her, Umi reluctantly stepped in and hanged her head low politely.

"Sorry for the intrusion."

Umi said while scanning quickly her surroundings. Different from the name on the sign outside, the shop was filled with different kinds of weapons hanging on the walls and shelves. The shop was a little bit bigger than Nozomi's store as it required more spaces to store big weapons such as spears and battle axes. However, all of the items were organized nicely. And even the weapons themselves Umi could tell that most of them were well forged with high quality. But the sight of the owner had not been found yet. While Umi was taking her time to look around the shop, Hanayo approached the counter and called out once again.

"Rin-chan. Are you busy in there?"

"Just a sec. I'll be out now."

The voice answered from the inner room behind the counter. And as she promised, the owner existed from the room, revealing a short boyish orange hair girl with yellow eyes. She greeted Hanayo with a big friendly hug, causing the chestnut hair girl to squeal in surprise.

"Kayo-chin! You've come. Sorry for making you wait."

"It was only a few seconds. Don't worry, Rin-chan. Were you busy with something?"

"Yeah. A customer's order. They gave me the ingredients and told me to forge weapons for them by tonight. It's for a newly-form Guild so I was kinda in the middle of forging 40 weapons." The short hair girl scratched her head cheerfully. "But nothing can stop me from eating Kayo-chin's meals. What do you bring for me today?"

"Your favorite, ramen."

Hanayo smiled while placing a bowl of hot ramen from her basket onto the counter, which earning a thankful expression from the other girl.

"Yay! Kayo-chin is the best!"

"Ah right, Rin-chan. Let me introduce you to my other friend, Umi-san." The chestnut hair girl looked at the blunette who had been waiting for them patiently. "Umi-san, this is the friend that I told you, Hoshizora Rin. Her in-game ID is Nyan but she doesn't mind about people calling her Rin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rin-san."

The blunette bowed at the short girl politely as a greeting, making Rin become nervous and immediately following the gesture in panic. Seeing her friend freaking out, Hanayo giggled softly then patted the girl's shoulder to calm her down.

"Don't worry Rin-chan. Umi-san may look stiff but she's really nice and kind. She helped me a lot when I first opened my restaurant."

"Ah. So she is the **coolest** friend that you told me before, the **Blue Blade**." Rin emphasized the word "cool" which made Hanayo blush in embarrassment while Umi just smiled awkwardly. "But anyway, Kayo-chin's friend is my friend. Welcome to my little shop, Umi-san. You can come here anytime you want and I'll help you with anything as a repay for helping Kayo-chin."

"To be honest, I do have a favor to ask you. I was looking for a good weapon shop to forge a weapon for me with high quality. And Hanayo-san introduced you to me. But it seems that you're busy with something else so maybe I can come some other times."

"Oh no need to worry about that. The one who makes the order didn't give me any special custom for the weapons. And the ingredients they gave me are common ones so it doesn't take that much time to massive produce 40 weapons of same kind." Rin laughed while taking a sip from the juice Hanayo brought for her. "So before I can accept your request, I just need to clarify that my forging skill is a little bit different from other blacksmiths."

"How different then?" Umi replied calmly.

"Not like other blacksmiths focusing on satisfying customers' requests, I concentrate on the quality of the weapons. Therefore, I create weapons based on the stats and value of their ingredients, not following the custom request from customers. In other words, the weapons are forged following the best stats the ingredient giving. So I can't guarantee that I can forge the best weapon for your fighting style." Rin shrugged. "But if you insist, I can forge according to your custom but of course the quality can be lowered."

Umi took a moment of thoughts as she tried to analyze what Rin said. It would be better if she could receive better katana than her current one. But she was not in need of it that much. Besides, she did not want to waste such a rare ingredient for a half-ass weapon.

"Please do make it with your best skills. I have no request for customization."

"If you say so then I'm gladly to accept your request." Rin smiled cheerfully then opened the door behind her. "Let's go inside my smithy."

Receiving the invitation, Hanayo and Umi followed the short hair girl to the room, which then led them to a smaller room with some anvils and hammers in the corner and a big stone table in the middle of the room. Standing in front of the table, Rin turned around and spoke to the blunette.

"First of all, can I take a look of your ingredient?"

"Sure."

Umi waved her hand to open the menu window. She quickly chose the trade option and sent it to Rin, who accepted it in no time. Then she placed the ingredient into the window and sent it away. Once the name of the item appeared on her side, Rin was immediately shocked and disbelieved, concerning the chestnut girl who was watching her reaction.

"What's wrong, Rin-chan?"

"T-this…" The girl stuttered. "This is an S-rank ingredient dropped from a super rare mini-boss on the 60th floor. No one has found the boss yet, even the best bounty hunter. How did you find **Water Stone**?! One of the legendary stones that actually allows magical damage?"

Umi smiled nervously. "I accidentally encountered the boss in the lake when I was farming for **EXP** on that floor. Just my extraordinary luck."

"You sure got some luck there." Rin swiped her sweats. "Even though I have mastered my forging skills, receiving such a high quality material like this one still gives me a chill."

"Don't take any pressure. I won't blame you for anything."

"Oh no. I have to give you the best weapon out of this or it will damage my reputation."

The short hair girl quickly approached her set of equipment and picked out the platinum set of anvil and hammer. She placed the platinum anvil on the table, then summoned the **Water Stone** from her inventory and put it on the anvil. She held the hammer on her hand and turned at Umi.

"Before I start, are you sure you don't want to customize it to fit with your fighting style?"

"I believe that it would be better to make the best out of the legendary stone. If it turns out to be my type of weapon then I'll be very lucky."

"OK. Here we go."

Rin held the handle with both of her hands. The hammer shone in white light. She raised it above her head and slammed it onto the stone with a steady force. Immediately, the stone shone brightly and quickly made a form of a weapon. The three girls watched silently and nervously as they did not know what was the outcome. Only then the light disappeared and the stone had finally took its final form, disappointed sighs could be heard from two shorter girls.

"I'm sorry, Umi-san… It seems that your luck has ended…" The short hair girl apologized. She picked up the silver bow with ancient texture craved on it and sheepishly observed the blunette's reaction.

Umi stared at the weapon quietly. But soon later she smiled gently at the short hair girl and received the bow from her hands.

"No. It's an amazing bow. The best one in this world up until now. I'm really thankful to have such a skillful blacksmith forging a weapon for me."

"But… you don't use range attack, do you Umi-san. It's a waste of your effort and the legendary material."

"It's true that I can't use this bow. But it's not a waste. I do have someone else in mind that would be a better owner of this incredible weapon than me."

"If you say so then I'm relieved. And by the way, the name of it is **Freezing Bow.** "

Umi mumbled the name quietly. She smiled as a picture of a certain person suddenly appeared in her mind when she thought about giving it to someone else. Then she turned to look at the short hair girl.

"Oh I forgot. How much does this bow cost? I still have to pay you."

"Ah about that, it's completely free. Like I said before, it's a token from me for your help. And I can't make a friend paying." Rin smiled while hugging Hanayo from behind.

"But…" Before Umi could say anything Hanayo gently interrupted her with a smile.

"Please take it. You have helped me a lot, Umi-san. This is the least we can you to return the favor even though we're not even sure how that bow can help you."

The blunette was touched. She bowed politely and thankfully at the girls and then transferred the bow into her storage.

"Thank you for your kindness. If you need anything with finding ingredients and materials, do not hesitate to contact me. I usually go farming if I don't get called for boss fights."

"We will do the same in return. But for now…" Rin stretched her arms tiredly. "I need to eat and then meet up with Nico-chan and Pile-chan."

Hearing the familiar names, Umi was taken back a little, curiously asked. "You are an acquaintance to them?"

"More like a guild member. But they are also my and Kayo-chin's friends. Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing. I'm just curious."

After receiving the answer, Umi finally noticed the Guild Emblem of **U's** next to Rin's name above her HP bar. It was the same with Hanayo's. The blunette usually did not focus on people's HP bars when she was in a **Non-PK area**. But now that all of the people she knew joined a guild, she made a note to herself that she should be more cautious about the Guild Emblem showed above a player's HP bar more. Not wasting her time, she quickly thanked the girl and excused herself out of the store, in order to avoid the odd of encounter the duo leaders of **U's.** Those two were also clinging tails like Eli that took any opportunity to invite her to their guilds. Until now, she still had not found any reasons to change her mind and accept their invitations. But who knows how her fate could change in the future?

* * *

 **30** **th** **August 2031 18:25. 25** **th** **Floor. Ascend city.**

After making new friend with Rin few days ago, Umi wandered around the city, trying to solve the remaining problems she had. Sitting on a wooden bench near the biggest fountain in the heart of the city, the blunette chewed on her bread which she just got from a restaurant nearby. Eating her small dinner while watching the crowd going back and forth busily as the night was falling, Umi took her time to think about the reality. Without the rare moment of peace like this, she would have forgotten about the fact that she was living in a game. And the initial goal was to get back to the reality. However, like most of people here, she had gotten used to the life in Regalia. Too much that she preferred it more than her real life. At least here, she got her freedom to do anything. But it would be a lie if she did not worry about her family. Her real body would be paralyzed on a bed right now. But since she was living alone, did her parents notice about her disappearance? She was still alive in the game so Umi was pretty sure that her body was not dead yet. But that did not tell how concern her parents would be to find out that their only daughter was stuck in a game for God knows how long it would be. Once she returned, Umi bet she would be in another trouble, and this time with her parents.

While she was deep in thought, a commotion nearby disturbed the moment of peace. The **Teleport station** was just few meters away from her current location so she would not be surprise. However, she could never ignore the voice of the person who was causing all of this commotion. Turning to look at the sources of the noise, the blunette could easily spot the familiar blonde in white cyan robe. The girl just stepped out from the **Teleport Warp** with 2 guys and an ashy blonde dressing in the same uniform with her. Umi flinched a little bit since there were two people who she wanted to avoid the most, Eli and Kotori. The blunette wanted to run away before they noticed her present. However, the unusual angry expression of the composed blonde and the resigned look on the ashy blonde caught her attention. It seemed that Eli was yelling at the guys for some reasons. Umi recognized their personal guards, Chris and Dan. The blunette smirked quietly since this was something she had foreseen it a long time ago.

But then Umi noticed that the guys did not budge an inch even though the vice leader was talking to them. She was a little bit too far from the group that she could not listen to their conversation. A small consideration passed through her brain whether she should got herself involved in their business or not. But then the slightly sadness found in those ambers made the blunette could not ignore anymore. Umi threw the bread on the ground, which immediately broke into particles and disappeared into the air, then calmly approached the group. The closer she got, the clearer she could hear from Eli. And just after few seconds, Umi could understand the problem they were having.

"And for last time, it's already past 6 o'clock. Your job is done for the day. Please stop following us from now on." Eli raised her voice at the two guys standing still in front of her. "Do I have to remind you that I'm the vice leader?"

"No, ma'am." Chris answered. "However, Leader had told us to extend our working hours until 9pm because of the PK incidents increasing lately."

"I know about the incidents since I AM the captain of the investigating team. But that doesn't give you the rights to invade our privacy."

"We understand, Elichika-sama. But we can't disobey Leader's orders."

"So you mean until I can talk this out with Leader then you will follow me and Tori to our houses?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's for your saf-…"

"What if the main cause of this mess is solved, will you leave them alone?"

Suddenly, a foreign voice interrupted the conversation. All of the present members of **Silverbreaker** turned to the culprit. Eli was surprised at first but when she saw the familiar blunette, her face wore a disbelief expression. Kotori was also shocked by the sudden presence of the girl but she quickly felt relieved and also happy to see the swordswoman. On the other hand, the two guys were annoyed by the unwelcomed person. Dan, Kotori's personal guard, stepped closer to Umi and asked with annoyed tone.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Not scared by the threat from the guy's voice, Umi remained calm and suggested an idea that went completely opposite to her own policy. "If I solve this case, will you let them have their own freedom?"

"Why do we need to trust you with that? Even the three strongest Guilds haven't solved it for many weeks. How can a small girl like you do something? Don't stick your nose into adults' business. Just go away and kill some slimes." The guy pushed Umi's shoulder away, totally looked down on her.

"Uh oh…"

The blonde exclaimed quietly in panic. She noticed how dark her best friend's face had become. The stupid guy just crossed the line that they should have never done if they knew how a calm and dignified girl could be when she was angry. Eli dragged Kotori along her to create some distances between them and the guys. Then she slowly placed herself behind the shorter blonde and gently covered both of Kotori's eyes with her hands, confusing the ashy blonde with sudden movement.

"Elichika-chan? What's wrong? Why do you cover my eyes?"

"Tori, it's better for you if you don't watch what happens next. Trust me."

Kotori was curious but she still chose to believe Eli. Since the time she joined the guild, the blonde had been taking care of her really well. Eventually, Kotori looked up to her like a reliable sister. On the other hand, Eli observed the other group with concern. Even though they were in **non-PK** area but Eli was not sure how things would turn out. They could not be killed in here but it did not mean they could not feel the pain. And on top of that, as a vice leader, it was her responsibility to ensure the safety of her members. But because they had crossed the line this time, if it was not Umi then she would punish them by herself. Yet a moment passed and the blunette had not raised her head up. Her bang covered half of her eyes which were clouded by darkness and anger. There were only two reasons that made her best friend stayed silent. One was that she did not know what to reply, which was immediately out of question for Eli. Umi usually did not interfere with other people's business if it did not matter her. But when she did, she must had a good reason behind that. Therefore the only possible answer was the peace before a storm.

"Still standing here? Just get lost!"

The guy tended to push Umi again. However, before his hand could make any contact, it was grabbed by another hand with such a force that he could not get it off or move an inch. Then, a calm and gentle voice surprised him.

"I respect your opinions. Unfortunately, I have 3 reasons that prove you completely wrong. If you can spare just a little time with me, I'll gladly explain for you."

"I don't have tim-…"

Before he could finish his words, Dan was pushed back by a sudden force that knocked his feet off the ground and landed painfully on his back. Even though his HP bar did not drop at all because of the **non-PK restricted area** , he could still feel the pain and strength coming from nowhere. Taking a second to analyze the situation, the guy finally rose his head, only to meet a white and blue silhouette which sent him flying again; this time with a punch right on the face.

"First of all, this game is running base on the level and stats system. So regardless the gender of the player, as long as my level and equipment's stats are higher than yours, I am able to give you some hard time." The blunette approached Dan once again, showing her scary smile which froze the guy. "Also the last time I check the **Hall of Fame** , I and your vice leader are holding the same top 5 highest level players in the whole server. Which means, you're calling your vice leader a weakling also. That's not nice to talk about your superior like that."

"I-…"

Another punch on the stomach, sending him flying up to the sky.

"Second, I'm a solo player so I have wandering to more hidden places while you're busy with your stalking job. Therefore, I can easily investigate the culprits in secret places that could have been their hideout."

When the guy started to fall down, before he could touched the ground, the blunette powerfully raised her leg up and stepped on his belly, crashing him down on the brick ground, crushing the whole area. The HP bar of the poor guy did not drop an inch but his agony face told everything about the pain he was suffering.

"And finally, I'm not restricted by any Guild's policy so I'm not afraid of dirtying my hands with blood." The smile on Umi's face disappeared. She bended down and lowered her voice. "You should be thankful that you're in **Non-PK restricted area** right now. Or else, I wouldn't mind ending your life with my hands."

Dan shivered in fear. His face was so pale that it looked like all of his blood had been drained out by Umi's voice. Standing near was Chris whom froze since the beginning. From afar, Eli was sweating from the observation. Thankfully that Kotori was clueless about what was happening or else Umi's image had been ruined completely. The blonde knew that her best friend was really scary whenever she was angry. However, what she was more concerned about was the future consequences after this. Being the vice leader, she knew that Umi had violated her Guild's policy of protecting members' safety, even though no harm was done in this case. But those guys would not let this humiliation get passed that easily. Most of the time, the blunette always thought about her actions really carefully. But during these rare time of anger, she would not care about the consequences at all. And Eli clearly knew the reasons. After all, when it came to Eli and this girl who was quietly covered by her hand, Umi could never ignore and refrained herself from interfering too much. The blonde sighed heavily in defeat.

"So, do you still question about my ability of solving the case or do you want me to show you more?"

"N-no. Please… It's enough…"

The guy begged. Umi let out a heavy sigh and stepped away from the guy. Chris quickly went back to his mind and helped Dan to stand up. Dan was still in mental-breakdown so he could not speak a word and shook in fear. Chris turned back to give a warning to the blunette then escorted the injured guy away.

" **Blue Blade,** you won't get away with this. Prepare yourself for messing up with **Silverbreaker** 's members."

Eli watched the duo guys disappearing into the **teleport warp** without looking back at the girl. Only when they could not be seen anymore, she sighed in relief and let go of Kotori's eyes. Then, the blonde slowly approached the blunette with the ashen blonde following right behind her confusingly.

"Thank you for saving us. But you went a little too far on them, Umi. Now you're gonna get trouble with our superiors for sure."

Eli scolded the girl immediately right after she saw Umi's face had returned to the kind and genuine face. The blunette scratched her cheek apologetically as she realized that she lost herself for a moment there.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't just watch and do nothing anymore. You're their vice leader. They should be more respectful than that."

"You could have done something less violent than sending a guy flying. But to be honest, I would also beat them up for talking to you like that."

"But Umi-chan, are you seriously about what you said?"

Kotori asked in concern, standing next to the taller blonde. The blunette sensed some fear and worry in her voice. Smiling warmly, she nodded at the question. Her expression became sharper and more serious to show her determination.

"I never make promises that I know I can't do."

"And how exactly are you going to do it?" Eli asked, still doubting that the possibility of success that her best friend could solve the case.

"I have been doing some hunting with Honoka lately and we have spotted some locations that the **PK gangs** usually gathers around. Yesterday, Honoka just sent me a message about a secret cave on 46th floor that seems to be their hideout. I was planning to check out that place before I met you girls though. I'm thinking that if I can catch these gangs then they can be our lead to the whole **PK Guild**."

"Sounds good as a plan." Eli gave it a moment of thought. But then her expression changed as she realized something. "Wait… Do you plan to catch them by yourself? Alone?"

"Yes? What's the problem?" Umi asked sheepishly.

"Everything! Umi, we're talking about gangs, which mean they have at least 10 people or more. You don't even know the exact number of criminals you will face. It's true that the **level system** will give you some advantage but doesn't mean you can be that reckless."

The ashen girl besides Eli also showed concern on her face after hearing her friend's plan of going off to the danger by herself.

"Eli-chan is right, Umi-chan. You're strong but one against ten is still too dangerous. I will go with you."

"No, please. It's my responsibility to solve this case as I have announced before. You shouldn't get yourself hurt because of me." The blunette immediately refused.

"But…"

"Please. I appreciate for your concern but I'll be fine by myself. If something happens, I can always ask Honoka for back up."

"Oh no. As the captain of the investigation team and your best friend, I oppose your suggestion to head out alone. It's too dangerous no matter how you look at it." Eli crossed her arms in front of her. "And besides, if something happens to you, I won't know how to deal with this poor little bird."

As saying, Eli gestured Umi to look at the girl next to her. Immediately when their eyes met, the blunette flinched and her heart stopped for a moment as Kotori was looking at her with an imploring expression and teary eyes that could melt any hearts of maidens. Umi gulped in difficulty. She could feel the heat coming from her crimson ears and cheeks as long as she stared into those watery ambers. In embarrassment, Umi avoided any further eye contact with the ashen blonde.

"T-Then, what are you suggesting, Eli? Kotori will be in danger too if she go with me."

"That's why I'll also come with both of you." Eli said in confidence. "This is my case since the beginning. I can't just stand out and watch someone do the job for me."

With a swift move, before Umi could notice, Eli had already shortened the distance between them. The blunette startled as the pair of sapphire was staring at her ambers. Hot breaths warmed her face even more than before. Not to mention that the husky voice coming from the blonde gave her a chill on her back.

"I'm the **Golden Lightning** if you forget it already. I believe that I don't lose to **Blue Blade** in both strength and speed as we have the same combat style. Also, the last time I checked the level ranking, I was on the same rank with you. So am I qualified for the job now, **Blue Blade-san**?"

Umi gulped again. She knew her best friend was a sly fox. And that fox knew every of her weakness, including imitations. Whenever Eli wanted something, she would force it on Umi by teasing her with skinship and other imitations that could cause some misunderstanding between them. Since the time they went to high school together, Umi and Eli had been always mistaken as a couple because of the teasing the blonde did it to her. Being a quarter Russian and spending her childhood in Russia, the blonde was more opened to these close contact with her friends than other Japanese girls. Umi was scared of this side of Eli as she could never refuse the blonde whenever she did this to her. She slowly turned her head to the ashen, only to meet the same teary ambers that burned her face before. She was completely trapped.

"F-Fine… You two can go with me. So get off me, please…"

"I knew that you can't resist to this Elichika."

Eli smirked as she backed down to give Umi some space. Kotori also smiled at the blunette cheerfully. Only the genuine swordswoman let out heavy sighs in defeat. She was known to be the undefeatable **Blue Blade.** But deep down inside, Umi knew that her pride couldn't let her to resist any requests coming from these girls. If someone could defeat her easily, that would be Eli and Kotori.

"Think about it, Umi. Chris sounds really serious about what he said to you before. I'm pretty sure that he will report today incident to the leader and add some dramatic things into the story to make you become a real villain. Having me with you, I can talk something out of this."

"They are the least of my concern. I don't mind staying in the prison for few days if I can save some people's lives." The blunette shrugged.

"Sounds like the chivalrous Umi that I always know. So now, what's your plan exactly?"

"You can go prepare some **warp stones** to your Guild's prisons, Eli. Then I will explain the details on our way to their hideout."

"Wait… we're catching them tonight?" Kotori surprisingly exclaimed.

"Yes. The more we wait, the more lives will be lost."

* * *

 **A/N: Hello all! It's been a while. Thank you for all of your comments. I'm really glad to read all of your compliments and see how you all enjoy my story. I almost finish with my thesis so I have some time left to write this chapter.** **Cronata-san even offered to draw all the key characters' designs from my story, which I'm really happy about that. At first, I just wrote this story out of an instant feeling right after I rewatched SAO for the 4th times so I didn't have much confidence on how long I could keep the motivation to finish this story. However, after meeting Cronata-san, everything gave me lots of motivation to continue this story to the end. This is the first time someone offered to draw character's designs from my story so basically, I'm in heaven now. Many thanks to Cronata-san and all the readers that have been spending their time to read my story. I promise that I will not drop with fiction no matter what happens.** **  
**

 **Once again, please read and review as usual. Your comments are my biggest support.**

 **When Cronata-san finishes her sketches, I'll ask her permission to share them to all of the readers here so please just wait patiently for her work.**

 **Sayuki peace out~**


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